Forever & Always
by LifesAStory
Summary: Troy and Gabriella were childhood frenemies,now they’re older and they still hate each others guts. The two most popular people at the school can’t stand sharing the school, but what happen when one event happens that forces them to work together?TROYELLA
1. Enmity

_A/N: This is my first story in the year so hopefully you guys will enjoy it, kick back and relax and enjoy the happy parts, drama, and sad parts._

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Chapter One: Enmity

"_Troy Troy, over here!" a group of sophomore girls exclaimed._

"Troy my man! Great game last night, want to go shoot some pool later?" a kid who looked like a freshman exclaimed.

Troy Bolton strutted down the hallway with his hand in his jean pockets as he walked down the hallway that he seemed to think he owned. "No can do bud, I got plans with the fam," Troy said to him before turning the corner where other people were trying to get his attention.

Troy Bolton was everyone's dream guy; he was tall, handsome, smart, athletic, and a golden boy. Everyone wanted to be his friend and girls wanted to be his girlfriend, but that department was taken though. Troy had girlfriends, that's right he had more than one girlfriend and poor them they didn't know that he was dating other girls. Troy was the all-star on the varsity basketball team and he was only a junior but he started on the varsity since his freshman year. Outside of school basketball, he plays on a select team called the Star Elite. As you can see, he has his life already the way he wants it. The perfect life for the perfect guy.

As he took the corner of one of the hallways, he ran into his friends; the only ones he considered real and true friends, Chad and Zeke. Chad and Zeke also played on both basketball teams with Troy. They've all been friends since they were in elementary and since then they've been the best of friends. Chad was tall and had big curly afro hair, he was more of the nice one out of them all and then there was Zeke; the sensitive one. Zeke loved to bake and hang with his friends. Basketball isn't his first priority but he still loves it.

"Sup dude," Zeke said and did the guy handshake with Troy. Zeke had a girlfriend; she went by the name Sharpay. Sharpay was something special, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she dressed however she wanted. She was one of the popular girls at the school and she was an important person to the role of theater.

Troy smiled, "Hey Zeke, hey Chad," Troy said and did the same handshake with Chad.

Chad smirked, "I see the sophomore girls are looking your way bro," he laughed. Chad wasn't dating anyone at the moment. He had a huge crush on this girl though, but he didn't tell anyone because she was a genius as in she was extremely smart that when he was around her he feels really dumb.

Troy shrugged his shoulders carelessly; "the females are cool people, but I don't date younger girls…" he stopped and laughed because he knew that wasn't true.

"Right," Chad rolled his eyes. "Well you better hope Krissy doesn't find out," Chad told Troy. Krissy was one of Troy's girlfriend.

"And you better hope that Marissa doesn't find out either about them and Krissy," Zeke added. Marissa was Troy's other girlfriend who went to another school.

Troy rolled his eyes, "they won't find out because you two aren't going to say anything, I trust you two enough to know not to say anything, anyway let's go to class before Darbus gets on our asses about it." The three of them went down the hallway and started for homeroom. These three really owned the school.

* * *

"Look at those guys, they think they own the school," Taylor said as she leaned against her friend's locker. Taylor was watching Troy, Chad, and Zeke stroll down the hallway. Taylor knew Chad liked her, but she had her guard way up to let a guy like that into her life. She was fragile and everyone knew it. Taylor McKessie was not your average girl, she was a really smart girl, but she was beautiful as well. She wasn't afraid to tell someone off, but she was nice at the same time.

"My boyfriend looks so cute…" Sharpay ignored whatever Taylor said and sigh with happiness. She waved at her boyfriend and then looked at her friends who were rolling their eyes at her. "What? I can't help that I'm in love," she said, grinning. "And don't even deny that you don't think Troy is beautiful," Sharpay added.

Gabriella Montez closed her locker and crossed her arm before she looked at her friend Sharpay. "Right, and so is a donkey," she said sarcastically. Gabriella Montez was the other "it" girl. She was the girl version of Troy, except she didn't have boyfriends and she didn't think she was better than everyone else and instead of playing basketball she played volleyball. Gabriella was 5'7", tall, slim, smart, and athletic. She had brown hair and brown eyes to go along with it. She was a beautiful girl, but she never took her looks for granted. She was very popular amongst the guys and she had a lot of friends.

"Oh come on, you know you two belong together- you guys are like Ross and Rachel," she said referring to the characters in Friends.

Gabriella and Troy knew each other since they were four, but they never got along. When they were younger, Gabriella never shared her toys with Troy and when she didn't Troy would hit her. When they were seven, Gabriella was still riding with training wheels while Troy was riding a big boy bike, Troy laughed and pushed her off the bike before leaving her there crying. When they were eleven, Troy got a new game boy but Gabriella threw it up in the tree and broke it because Troy said that she didn't have one and she wasn't cool. When they were thirteen, Troy started a rumor about Gabriella that spread around school. When they were fifteen, Gabriella told all the girls a bad story about Troy that made them all dislike him for a couple weeks. Now they're seventeen and they still hate each other. Occasionally, the Bolton's and Montez will have a dinner party together, but either one or the other wouldn't be there the same time. They were like fire and ice; they just didn't mix. Never once did Gabriella like Troy, she hated his guts and she was sure he felt the same way.

"Uh no we're not, he would be the last person I'd want to be with, in fact I'd rather die than be with him," Gabriella said, smirking at the two's reaction. That was how much she hated Troy Bolton.

Taylor shook her head at her friend, "You're just being in denial, it's okay," Taylor said and then nodded towards the guys, "Your boyfriend is coming this way Sharpay," she said.

The boys came over to the girls before homeroom which was the door behind the girls. "Hey ladies," Chad said and winked at Taylor who smiled but rolled her eyes at him.

Troy looked at the girls before narrowing his eyes at Gabriella. He hated this girl and wished she didn't go to this school, but his parents were friends and he would have to respect her no matter what and be 'protective' as his mother puts it. Yeah right was he going to waste his time on someone like her.

"Look, I'd love to stay around and chat, but I don't like bitches, and bitches who stare," she said as she was referring to Troy and waved at them before going to homeroom early.

"She totally wants me," Troy said letting his ego get bigger. Troy knew she hated him but he loved messing with her because he enjoys the pain she goes through.

"Cut it out Troy, let her be," Sharpay said and then the rest of them went into homeroom class.

"Okay class, as you know the volleyball team and basketball team both made it to playoffs," Miss Darbus allowed everyone to clap and cheer before she cut them off with her hand, "So can we please have both captains come up to the front to explain when their next game is and who they are playing and such? I need to go to the rest room real quick," Miss Darbus said as Troy and Gabriella both walked to the front of the class.

"Let's have the boring sport go first," Troy winked as the class snickered with laughter while some of the girls on the volleyball team told Troy to shut up.

"Actually, I think I'll let the asshole go first," Gabriella raised her eyebrow as she heard some "Ooos" and "ouch that's a burn" kind of comments.

Troy glared at Gabriella before moving in front of her, "Alright so as we all know, the best team in the school is going to playoffs...Again and hopefully-well actually we will win the championships- one team around here has to win one right?" he said, turning back to Gabriella before looking back at the team. "We're playing Northwest High school at our gym at seven thirty this Friday, I better see all your faces there…well except for one that is," he said before sitting back down at his seat.

"Anyway, now that the lame stuff is over with-"

"Shut up Gabriella, basketball is so much better," one of the senior players said.

"Hey Gary, you don't have to be mad now just because you don't get to play…it's okay to warm up the bench," she shot back at him and then smiled at her teammates.

"Have some respect Gabriella," Troy yelled back to defend his teammate even though he hated Gary's guts.

"So our game is this Thursday at our gym and we'll be playing Pacific Coast High School at seven! Please come out and support the girls," Gabriella smiled sweetly before sitting down at her seat.

"Lame," he coughed as Gabriella walked by and he felt her hit the back of his head, "Ouch," he rubbed the back of his head before Miss Darbus got back and began to explain some theater stuff. The bell soon rang and everyone got up and walked out together. The thing that sucks is Gabriella and Troy has to be around each other because they hung around the same crowd.

"Krissy baby!" Troy said when he saw Krissy and kissed her passionately in front of Gabriella. He knew Gabriella hated Krissy and also hated PDA so he did it anyway.

"Gross," Gabriella said and walked away from the two sucking each other's faces. Gabriella hated Krissy because Krissy always thought that Gabriella liked Troy and would try stealing him from her. There was no way Gabriella could ever like Troy, he was the biggest asshole in the world. Gabriella and Troy would never exist, not in her world. He was just her frenemy, nothing more.

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I know it's super short so far, but it'll get longer and more interesting I promise. I'd like to hear what you guys have to say so please review!


	2. Relentless

**CHAPTER TWO:** Relentless

"Damn, finally its lunch, I've been waiting so long for this," Chad groaned after the bell rung and the three guys departed out of history class. When it came to school, Chad hated it but he had good grades because he wanted to go to a good college to play basketball. It was his number one priority.

Troy laughed and waved to a couple of his acquaintance friends in the hallway. "You're such a fat ass Chad," he said and stopped by his locker to put away his books. Troy heard a noise of tapping high heels onto the floor and he turned around to see Gabriella walking with some dude who was on the lacrosse team and football team. Cohen James, he hated that guy. Cohen was the exact same as Troy, but instead of being a jerk, he was more of the nice guy. He had the grades and the money also to say he had half of the girls on his ass. The guy he hated and the girl he hated together, typical. "Those two deserve each other…those bastards."

The two other guys turned around to see who Troy was talking about and snickered quietly so Troy couldn't here. "Cohen is a cool dude Troy, you just got to get to know him," Zeke said.

"You're mad that he has your girl huh?" Chad joked and immediately he regretted saying it.

Troy rapidly turned around and pushed Chad against the lockers but not too hard to hurt him but enough to tell him to back off, "never say that again, I hate her guts and you know that."

"I-I'm sorry dude, chill I was just joking," Chad said in a scared tone. When it came to messing with Troy, he had to watch what he said or else he'd lose a friend.

Troy shakes his head, "Let's just go to lunch," he said and walked off before them to the cafeteria. There was no way he had a crush on Gabriella.

* * *

Cohen and Gabriella walked into the lunchroom and sat at Cohen's usual table. On other days, Gabriella would sit with the gang, but today she and Cohen were sitting together at the lacrosse team's table. Gabriella really liked Cohen, he was nice and respected her and it was tough to find a guy like him around this city. She liked him even more because Troy hated him.

"Guys this is Gabriella, Gabriella this is the team," Cohen smiled at her and sat down with them. Cohen really liked Gabriella too, he in fact had no problem with Troy but Troy had a problem with him. He didn't know if Gabriella and Troy had a history because it seemed like it.

Gabriella turned around to see the gang looking at her direction then she saw Troy sit with the gang. Gabriella smirked and then looked at Cohen, "I'll be right back," she said and stood up before sitting down with her friends. "Cohen is so cute," Gabriella said out loud to all of them in particular.

Troy coughed, "fag," and then smirked when he knew Gabriella heard him.

"Jealous much?" Gabriella asked as she cocked her head to the right. This was going to start an argument, the gang saw it coming and all of them took a deep breath and waited for the yelling.

Troy was in the middle of drinking his milk when he heard that and he spit out his drink and laughed, "Me jealous of him? For what? I'm clearly better than him and he has bad taste in women so I don't think there is any reason for me to be jealous," Troy shot back and began wiping up the mess he made.

Zeke smiled, "I think he has fabulous taste in women," Zeke said as Chad hit him in the back of the head. Zeke looked at Sharpay, waiting for her wrath but she smiled and snuggled up next to him.

"I agree with you," she grinned and winked at Gabriella who smiled and rolled her eyes at her.

Zeke raised his eyebrow and put his arm around his girlfriend, "I love this girl," he said and kissed her while everyone turned away from the kissing couple.

Gabriella looked at Taylor, "don't you agree that Cohen is beautiful?" she asked and the two girls turned back to look at him who waved at Gabriella when they made eye contact.

Taylor grinned, "yeah he is and so is the rest of the team," she smiled.

Gabriella laughed and looked at Chad's reaction and you could see the jealousy in his face. "Well I'm going back to him now," with that she stood up and went back to Cohen.

Troy shakes his head at Gabriella as she walks out, "can she get any more annoying?" Troy asked to no one in particular and he wasn't expecting an answer from anyone.

"You two know you two like each other, stop being in denial," Sharpay said once she pulled away from kissing Zeke.

Troy scoffed, "Yeah right, I'd rather date my dog then be with her," Troy said and then pushed his plate away, "thinking about liking her made me lose my appetite, I'm going to go shoot some hoops, you guys down?" Troy said and grabbed the ball out of Chad's hands. Chad stood up but Zeke declined because he wanted to spend some time with his girl. The two guys went to the vacant gym and started to shoot some hoops with each other. Troy took the first shot from the three point arch and swished it, and he did that a few times before switching with Chad. "Why does everyone want me and Gabriella to be together?"

Chad shrugged, "you two just known each other for so long and you two just seemed- I don't know, perfect for each other," Chad said and took a jump shot at the elbow of the free-throw line.

"Don't people understand that I can't stand her?" Troy asked and then went up to dunk the ball before moving back to the three point line again to take some shots.

Chad passed a missed shot back to Troy and shrugged, "not everyone knows your guys history so they can't really say anything."

"Exactly, they know nothing so people need to shut their mouths and accept the fact that me and Gabriella will never happen, never ever, ever," Troy said boldly.

"You can't say that you don't find her attractive one bit, just a little and you can't tell me that you've never had feelings for her in the last what…seventeen years you've known each other," Chad said and held the ball so Troy can answer his question.

Troy let out a defeated sigh and shrugged his shoulder. "Give me the ball Chad," Troy demanded.

"Nope, not until you tell me," Chad said and gripped the ball tightly.

"She's cute, but her personality makes her ugly," Troy finally said.

Chad wanted to laugh at his comment, "you can't deny that she's hot, even I think so but I don't see her like that and she has a perfect personality, just not towards you," Chad said.

"I just hate how she thinks she's better than me when she's not!" Troy exclaimed.

"Well dude, she is prettier than you and she is smarter than you, so therefore she is a bit better than you," Chad grinned but he could tell that Troy didn't think it was funny. "Lighten up bro, if you start being nice to her than she'll be nice to you."

"Yeah right, Gabriella Montez nice to me? Not in a million years," Troy took one last shot as the bell rung and swish it went.

* * *

The final class of the day and Gabriella and Troy had it together. Gabriella arrived early to class so she could talk to the teacher and then she took a seat in her lab station. Soon in a few minutes, students started to pile in, but Troy hasn't arrived yet. The teacher was on his way to close the door when he saw Troy in the hallway kissing his girlfriend.

"Troy Bolton, get your behind in here and stop macking on your girlfriend," Mr. Thomas said.

Gabriella rolled her eyes in disgust as Troy walked in and sadly the spot next to her was the only one open which meant they had to be lab partners today.

Troy walked in with a grin on his face until he saw that the only spot open was next to Gabriella and his face dropped. "Damn it," Troy muttered and sat next to her. "Lucky for you, I'm your lab partner today," he told her.

"Might as well give me an F now," Gabriella shot back and then opened her class book as the teacher instructed.

"Today we're going to experiment on some chemicals and mixing them to see which mix and which doesn't. Everyone has to be really careful and wear safety goggles at all time. Do not smell the chemical if it tells you not to and do not touch any of the chemicals. If you do, there is a shower in the back and quickly run there and turn it on. No horsing around, and the rest of the rules are on page 8 of your class syllabus," the teacher said. "You will be working with the person you're sitting next to so I hope you chose wisely," Mr. Thomas explained and then he let the class get to work.

"You go get the chemicals and I'll get the other stuff," Gabriella said and stood up from the station. Troy didn't budge as he was texting on his phone. Gabriella grabbed his phone and shoved it in her shirt and smirked. "I'm not kidding around with you."

"I'll go down there if you don't give it back to me," Troy warned and got up.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes, "don't touch me or else, I'll give it back to you once you get the chemicals little boy," Gabriella taunted and then went to get the safety stuff.

"Oh she's going to regret it," Troy mutters as he was going to get the chemicals. Troy got the chemicals that they needed and headed back to the station with his hand out in front waiting for his phone.

"Nope, not until this lab is done," Gabriella slapped his hand and gave him one of the goggles. Gabriella put her goggles on and then waited for Troy to get his goggle on. Once that happened, they started to work on the chemical.

"Let me mix it, you're hogging all the work…it's a partners thing you know," Troy said and pushed Gabriella out of the way which caused one of the chemicals to spill over and all over her books.

"TROY FUCKING BOLTON!" Gabriella yelled out loud as she was carefully cleaning the chemicals off.

"Miss Montez, language! I think Troy meant it to be an accident," Mr. Thomas said as he went over to help her.

"Yeah, accident," Troy said and you could tell he was trying to hold his laugh in.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him as she knew she would have to pay for the damage, "Oh I'll show you accident," she said charging at Troy but Mr. Thomas held her back. "Miss Montez, get back to work."

Gabriella scowled before staying far from Troy and mixing the chemicals together. Gabriella was mixing one of the un-harmful chemicals. As Gabriella was mixing it, Troy was playing with one of the papers on the table and Gabriella smirked as she 'accidently' knocked over the chemical she was working on and it went all over Troy.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT BURNS!" Troy said though really it wasn't a bad chemical and he was just freaking out because it was a chemical.

"Oops, accident," Gabriella said innocently and watched with amuse when Troy was running to the back of the shower to wash off the chemical that was on him.

"Gabriella ! What did you poor on him?!" Mr. Thomas asked.

"It's this one," she rolled her eyes and showed him that it wasn't dangerous. Soon Troy came charging back at her but he wasn't sure what he was going to do since he didn't hit girls, but he could make Gabriella an exception.

"THAT'S IT! You two! Go to the principal office now," Mr. Thomas yelled as everyone started making noises at them that they were in trouble.

"Look what you fucking did," Troy said and stormed out of the classroom.

Gabriella got her stuff and walked out after him towards the principal office. She was about a hundred feet behind Troy as they both walked down with anger in their mind. "Stop being a little girl about this Troy, you need to calm down."

"Shut the fuck up," Troy mutters as he sits down waiting for the principal. Gabriella sat far away as possible from him and took his cell phone out of her shirt and tossed it back to him.

"I'm not touching that after it's been there," Troy said, throwing his phone to the floor without using his hands.

"Are you kidding me?" Gabriella took his phone and gave it back to him. Before Gabriella could yell at him, the principal took them into the office for their consequences.

* * *

"So what happened now?" Cohen asked Gabriella.

"Troy freaking spilled chemicals all over my shit and I got mad so I poured chemicals on him and he got mad so Mr. Thomas sent us to the office and the principal of course let's troy off the loose and gave me a day of detention," she said, rolling her eyes. "You know if the principal loved volleyball then I'd be off the hook but no, he's a basketball fanatic."

Cohen laughed and hugged Gabriella, "It's okay, and it's not that bad. Troy is just a bad guy and you need to stay away from guys like him and be around guys who are actually nice," he said.

Gabriella smiled, "Guys like you?" Gabriella's smiles dropped when she heard someone behind her mock them. Of course it was the one and only Troy Bolton who was passing by with his girlfriend.

"Leave her alone Troy," Cohen defended.

"Hey Cohen," he said and turned around to flip him off before heading out to his Mercedes car.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "he's a jerk, get use to it," Gabriella said and then walked out to her car. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked and with that she hugged Cohen and got into her Lexus and drove home. Gabriella couldn't understand how Troy could be so cruel to her, she knew she has been a bitch to him as well but it's because of him that she is mean.

**Flashback**

_"Thank you mommy I love it!" Gabriella said as she got her new furby toy. Gabriella went outside to play with her new toy and to show it off to her friends in the neighborhood._

_"That's so cool Gabriella!" said one of her friends._

_"Lucky!" said the other one._

_Gabriella grinned as her friends loved it. Soon someone was covering the sun and Gabriella looked up to see Troy. "Go away Bolton," said Gabriella._

_"What is that stupid toy you have," Troy said and grabbed it from the middle of them and looked at it. "This is stupid," he said and threw it onto the street and one of the legs broke off._

_"TROY!" Gabriella cried and ran after her toy and tried putting the pieces together._

_"Loser!" Troy laughs and runs back into the house to grab his new toy car and shows it off to the neighborhood kids who were now interested in that._

_Gabriella sat in the street crying that her toy was broken. She glared at Troy and then she ran inside the house to tell her mom who told her that she'd get Gabriella a new one._

**End of flashback**

"You know, I never got that new furby," Gabriella said as she was sitting in the kitchen talking to her mom.

She laughed, "do you still want a new one then?"

"In fact I do," Gabriella joked and then looked at the time, "I gotta go volleyball practice, love you," she kissed her mom's cheek and then went to volleyball practice. When she got to the gym, there were a group of guys and her team out in front of the gym. "Hey guys what's going on?" she asked. She put her sunglasses and keys into her bag and then saw Troy come out of the middle of the guys.

"This is our time to practice, you guys need to go somewhere else," Troy said.

"I don't think so, we've had this time slot since uh…forever," Gabriella crossed her arm and spoke back to Troy.

Troy laughed and the boys joined along with her, "well the principal gave us the gym for this time so you lose," Troy smirks.

Gabriella clenched her fist as she felt the anger inside of her rise. "That's not fair! He only let you because he loves the basketball team!"

"Well then, that sucks for you now don't it. Come on fellas," Troy said and then the athletic director came out into the action.

"What's going on?"

Gabriella was glad to see him because he knew the athletic director will give her the way she wants it. "Troy is saying that the principal gave them our practice slot and now we don't know where to go and we need the practice for the playoffs coming!" Gabriella explained. She could see Troy in the background mimicking her.

Troy rolled his eyes, "you know what? If it makes Gabriella stop bitching, we'll give them their slot back. They need practice anyways, they suck."

"You two cut it out! You will share the gym, half and half it's big enough for the both of you."

"Fine," the two captains muttered and both of them went into the gym.

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**It'll keep getting better I promise! Please Review and give me your thoughts.**


	3. accommodation

**CHAPTER THREE: **accommodation

It was the night before the playoff game for the girls. Gabriella couldn't sleep as she tossed and turn in her bed, she was so nervous about the game that she had to go to the bathroom a few times. The lights in her room flickered on as her mom showed up in her room. "Honey are you awake?"

Gabriella sat up and nodded, "yeah I can't sleep, I'm too nervous about the game tomorrow," Gabriella said.

"Well there's something I need to ask you," her mom said and sat on the end of her bed.

"What is it?" Gabriella asked.

"Well me and the Bolton's are taking a trip to Hawaii on Friday morning as I told you already but here's the thing…Mrs. Bolton doesn't trust Troy home alone with no parental control so we were thinking if he could come live here for the time we're gone- and the dog," her mom said.

"NO! Absolutely not, there is no way he's staying here in our house. I hate him mom and you know that! Why would you even suggest that?!" Gabriella exclaimed.

Her mom sighed, "Please honey? It's just for five days, I need to go on this trip and the only way they're going along is if Troy can stay over here," she said.

Gabriella shook her head, "mom you know how much I can't stand being around him and now he'd be in my territory?" Gabriella whined, "Please no."

"Honey come on, I never get any time to relax, I need this after all the hard work I've been doing to keep us alive and all…" her mom took the guilt trip because she knew that Gabriella would fall for it.

Gabriella shakes her head, "I'm sorry mom, and I just can't."

She sighed, "fine, I guess I'll just have to tell them no and go to work every single day working my butt off to support the family," her mom said as she stood up and started for the door.

Gabriella hated when her mom did this, when her mom used the guilt trip to make Gabriella agree to whatever it is. "Mom wait," she said and her mom turned around. "Fine, I'll do it…ONLY if troy stays in the guest room all the way upstairs in the back and has no contact with me at anytime at home," Gabriella said and her mom hugged her.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me!"

Gabriella shook her head and lay back down on her bed. Great, first she's worried about her game and now she has to worry about Troy. What did she get herself into?

* * *

"No. No. Hell no," Troy stood up from the dining table and shook his head. "There is no way I'm staying with there. No disrespect to Miss Montez, but its Gabriella who I can't stand."

"Troy language, but come on please baby! Your father and I need this trip; we've been working so much that we're going to go crazy if we don't get this, my work is even paying too and I can't pass an opportunity like this," his mom said.

"But how can dad go when basketball season isn't even over yet?" Troy asked.

"I've talked to Greg and he said he'll take over as head coach when I'm gone, I'll be at the game this Friday and then he'll take over after that," his dad said and looked at his wife before looking back at Troy.

Troy stopped to think for a second and then shook his head, "no, I'm not staying with that fool, I refuse to," Troy said.

"Troy please!" his father begged.

"No dad, stop asking me that's my final answer," Troy said and then his dog came over to him and he petted him. "Why can't I stay here by myself, I'm a big boy I can handle things on my own," Troy said.

"Yeah right, the last time we left you home alone, we had two broken windows, stolen jewelry, and stains in the carpet that took days to remove," said his mom.

Troy sighed, "Well…right, but I'm responsible now!"

"Troy that was last Friday," his mom said and then she shook her head, "you're staying at the Montez's no matter what, and that's final," his mom set her foot down and Troy could tell.

"Fine," he muttered, "only one condition, she stays the hell away from me the whole time."

* * *

The next day at school, Gabriella was all dressed up since it was game day and everything. She wasn't worried about that right now actually; right now she was looking for Troy. Cohen saw Gabriella in the hallway and tried to stop her from walking. "Not now Cohen, have you seen Troy?"

"Troy Bolton? The guy you hate?" Cohen asked in a confused tone.

"Yes, I need to speak to him," Gabriella scowled and saw Troy coming, "I'll see you later," he said and then she walked up to Troy who seemed to be looking for her as well.

"We need to talk," they both said at the same time.

Gabriella stopped him from talking and then she went first. "So as we both know, you're staying at my place. There are some rules you need to know first. One; don't mess with anything in the house that can break. Two; no making a mess, if you do, you clean. And three; stay the hell away from me."

Troy rolled his eyes, "staying at your house is the last thing I want, but my mom is making me so you know what? I'll do what I want, but one thing that I'll agree to is staying away from you," Troy said, narrowing his eyes.

"No parties either unless I agree to them," Gabriella adds.

"Sure sure," Troy says and walks out when he sees his girlfriend.

Gabriella smirks, "she's not allowed over either!" she yelled out and then stormed off to find her other friends who actually kept her sane.

"What was that about?" Krissy asked Troy.

Troy shook his head, "it's nothing, I just made a deal with the devil and I'm going to be living in hell for the next five days, starting Friday."

"Well I can always come over Friday to make you feel better," Krissy says in a seductive tone.

Troy grinned, "of course, you're welcomed anytime," said Troy. _Regardless what Gabriella's says, I'm doing things my way._

* * *

"WHAT TIME IS IT?!" Gabriella yelled.

"GAME TIME!!!" The rest of the team yelled back.

The girls got together in a small circle and started jumping up and down, "Let's beat PC, let's beat PC," they chanted as they got pumped up before going out into the gym. This was it, Gabriella knew scouts were here and she knew this would be an important game. There was nothing that could take her moment from her. As the girls got out of the locker room and into the gym, everyone burst into cheers and Gabriella saw a group of boys including Troy acting like idiots and dressed up like players.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and they got warmed up for the game. Soon enough it was time to announce the players.

"First is a junior outside hitter, number 14 and Captain Gabriella Montez!" Gabriella high five her teammates and then waited to see who she was shaking hands with.

"From Pacific Coast, we have number 3 outside hitter Marissa Palmer!" At that name, Troy looked and saw his girlfriend who went to that school. Troy grinned because he knew Krissy wasn't here so he didn't have to worry about anything. Marissa ran up and shook Gabriella's hand and then the rest of the team was announced.

The game started and quickly the wildcats scored 7 and the Pacific Coast had 0. Gabriella went on to serve 4 aces and then they were up 11-0. A time out was called and then Gabriella looked up to see Cohen in the crowd. She smiled and waved to him as Troy mocked Gabriella. Gabriella shook her head and shoved him out of her mind; he wasn't going to ruin this for her. The first game went fast as the wildcats took it 25-11. The second game though was closer because the coach had Gabriella sit out for a rest. The sharks took that set 25-22. The third match went by fast as Gabriella was out with fire and scored half of the score, the third set went to the wildcats 25-14. The fourth set was quick as well as Gabriella served a bunch of aces.

"Okay here goes, the final match point...Marissa serves a bullet ball but senior liberal gets the dig and hits it to the setter who sets it up for Gabriella and Gabriella serves it straight down!!!!!! The wildcats are moving onto the next round!" the commentator said as the wildcats cheered. Gabriella went to shake Marissa's hand but this time she was colder.

"Don't think you're the best player because you're not," Marissa says and walks past Gabriella.

Troy saw this and started laughing, "You go Marissa!" he yells as she waves to him and then he smirks at Gabriella who was standing there looking like an idiot after that.

"Bitch," Gabriella said before she was mobbed by her team.

After the game, Gabriella was out talking to some scouts and parents and she saw Marissa and Troy standing in the back hugging. Gabriella shakes her head in disgust. Poor girls who he's cheating on. No one has the guts to tell either of them that Troy is cheating on them because Troy always finds a way to lie into their hearts. Gabriella walked towards their direction since that was the exit and stopped in front of him, "I hope Krissy finds out about this," she purposely says and walks out.

"Who's Krissy?" Marissa asked Troy who was wide eye.

"She's no one, don't worry about it, but I gotta go babe see you Saturday," he said and kisses her before running out after Gabriella. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Are you trying to ruin my relationships?"

"I just think those girls deserve to know the truth that you're a dirt bag," Gabriella said as she continued to walk without turning to talk to him.

Troy runs up to her, "why the fuck are you interfering with my life?"

"I'm not, I'm just helping a girl out," Gabriella said and threw her bag into the back of her car.

Troy gets in front of her, "well mind your own damn business and if Krissy finds out about this, I'm going to make your life a living hell," Troy said.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "News flash Troy, you already is making my life a living hell. It's just sad to know you'd do something like that," Gabriella closed her car door and drove off, leaving Troy standing there.

* * *

Luckily for Troy, Krissy somehow didn't find out and his relationships weren't jeopardized. The next day at school, everyone was decked out in white and red. When it came to spirit, East High was one of the most spirited schools in the district and they were also the loudest crowd at basketball games. Troy and the other basketball players were dressed in their warm up suits that they were given and the cheerleaders were dressed in their uniform. As Troy got into the school, everyone started cheering loudly and Troy grinned; he knew that they were cheering for him because he was going to take them to the championships. Right away, he was mobbed by a group of girls, but he pushed through them to find Krissy. When he found Krissy he pulled her into a hug, "hey baby," Troy kissed her neck from behind.

Krissy smiled and turned around to kiss him, "hey you are you excited for the game tonight?"

"Of course!"

"Well I have to go, Gabriella wanted to talk to me about something," Krissy said, "it's kind of weird that she wants to talk to me."

Troy's eyes got wide as he knew what Gabriella wanted to tell Krissy. What was Gabriella trying to do? "Uh, it's probably not important, besides she can wait," Troy said and kissed Krissy deeply so she'd forget about Gabriella.

"Babe," she pulled away from the kiss. "She said it was important and I needed to know," she said and kissed him once more before pulling apart and walking away.

Troy watched Krissy walk off and shook his head, "I'm gonna ruin her life so bad," Troy mutters and storms off to find some other people to hang around. Gabriella was going to regret what she was going to do.

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**Review please! What do you guys think about it so far? Anything you recommend?**


	4. Retribution

**CHAPTER FOUR**: retribution

Gabriella sat at the table waiting for Krissy to come by to talk to her, Gabriella needed to talk to her about something that couldn't wait and she knew Troy wouldn't be happy if he knew that Gabriella was talking to Krissy. Gabriella saw Krissy coming down the hallway and rolled her eyes before putting on a smile. "Hey Kris," she said.

Krissy smiled at Gabriella, "hey what did you need to talk to me about"

"Maybe you should sit down," Gabriella said and scooted over for Krissy to sit. She hated this girl, but she was a girl and she understood what point of view this was. "So you and Troy huh? How long have you two been together?" Now Gabriella didn't really care, but she was making her way up to the fact.

Krissy shrugged her shoulders, "not that it should matter to you, but about four months," she said. "Why?"

"Oh, just because I was wondering," Gabriella hesitated to continue on, but Krissy was eyeing her still.

"Look what do you need to tell me? I don't have time to have a small talk here," Krissy said impatiently. Krissy got her things together and stood up before Gabriella pulled her back down.

"Well I think you should know that Troy has been-"she was cut off by a voice coming up.

"Krissy come on, we have to go to class right now," he said and pulled her away, you can see the anger in his face and he was going to deal with Gabriella later.

Gabriella looked at troy and then at Krissy and shook her head, "pathetic Troy," she said. Gabriella stood up with her stuff and walked off.

"Wait, she was going to tell me something Troy about you," Krissy exhaled.

Troy replied with a small tone in his voice, "its nothing important so let it go," he said. "I don't want you to talk to her anymore, I hate that girl and you should too because you're my girlfriend."

Krissy agreed and wondered what was wrong with Troy and why he had so much hate for her. She didn't ask any more questions and let him be as they walked off to class together hand in hand.

On the other side of the school, Gabriella was at her locker with anger running through her, "troy is such a pig, I don't understand how no one has the guts to tell either of the girls that Troy is cheating on them," she mutters to herself.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice from behind asked her.

Gabriella heard Cohen's voice and sighed with relief that it wasn't Troy. "Hey Cohen, I was talking to myself I do that a lot," she chuckles.

Cohen laughs at her, "Oh, well whatever you said about Troy I agree with you, poor Krissy and Marissa don't know what Troy is doing," Cohen says.

"You know Marissa?"

"Uh, yeah…her and I kind of dated a long time ago," Cohen said and ruffles his hair.

Gabriella's face dropped a bit, but she didn't let Cohen see her face. "Oh, well I have to go to class so I'll see you later," Gabriella kissed his cheek and walked off. Even though they weren't officially dating, they acted like it and people would assume they were together. Gabriella stopped by her homeroom class first since it was her first class of the day and to her dismay, Troy was already there with his girlfriend.

"Oh god," Gabriella groans. Her seat was in the back and quickly she went to her seat hoping that the kissing Troy and his girlfriend wouldn't see her. She didn't want to deal with his crap right now, but he didn't want to see them kissing either.

Troy pulled away for some air and saw Gabriella in the back of the room and his eyes narrowed, "oh look it's little miss tattle tale," he shoots.

"Oh shut up Troy, I can easily do something right now that would make your life hell but I'm nice enough to keep my mouth shut," Gabriella shoots back.

"This sucks that I'll be stuck living with her for five days, it'll be the worst days of my life," Troy tells Krissy.

Krissy's eyes rose and she looked between the two, "you two will be living together...just the two of you?" When that was brought up, Krissy felt a pain of jealousy inside of her.

"Unfortunately, but don't think anything bad because I'll be staying as far away from him as possible," Gabriella smirks.

"Thank god," Troy said and then the bell rung as kids started to pile into the classroom.

* * *

Finally it was game time and also the day that Gabriella and Troy started living together, that wasn't on Troy's mind at the moment right now though, it was the game. Troy sat in the locker room and tied his shoe laces together before hearing the coach come in. Troy sat up and put his jersey then his warm up jersey on as he waited for the speech.

"Alright, there's 32 minutes of game time coming up, these thirty two minutes will determine your fate to the championships. It's now or never, let's give these players a show and let's give this crowd something to cheer about. Captains!"

Troy stood up with the other captain and got everyone to crowd around them. They did a cheer that got everyone pumped up and out to the gym they ran. Everyone erupted into loud cheers and some were boos coming from the opposing crowd. Troy led everyone to do the tip-drill off the backboard and he was the last one and dunked it in. After that they were called to shake hands with the other captain and after that they went back to warm up for ten more minutes. Troy saw all of his friends in the crowd, even Marissa who was standing next to a few of her friends from the school. He winked at her and then turned around and winked at Krissy before looking back at the crowd and saw Gabriella who was rolling her eyes at him. He smirked at her and then went to the bench with the rest of the team. "Alright, let's kick some ass tonight!" they all cheered and went to start the game. The game pace was pretty slow as they were close to each other. After the first quarter, the wildcats were up 20-15 and Troy had scored 13 of those points. The second quarter went by faster as Troy had 12 and the score was 34-26, Troy knew there were scouts in the crowd and he had to play the game of his life. The rest of the game went wildcats way as Troy had the total point of 32 points, 11 rebounds, and fourteen assists which also add with his five steals and two blocks. The wildcat won 57-44 and everyone in the crowd went crazy. Students started to run out to the players and Marissa and Krissy came at Troy at the same time.

"Oh shit," Troy said and dodged the two girls to go to the locker room quickly; he caught a break when that happened. Everyone in the locker room started celebrating and pushing Troy around because he was the best player of the night. "Party tonight at Gabriella's!" Troy knew that Gabriella said no parties, but he was going to do it anyway because like he promised; he was going to make her life hell.

"Gabriella's?" one of the players asked.

"Hell yeah, I'm staying there because the rents just left right after the game," Troy said and shrugged his shoulders, "she'll be cool with it so yeah, tell people to bring the alcohol and I'll bring the food," he said.

* * *

That night, Gabriella was home first and she was exhausted. She had to lay out the stuff for Troy because her mom had told her to and she wasn't going to be that unkind even if it is Troy. Gabriella placed towels and other stuff for him on the end of the bed upstairs and then she went into her room to lie down on her bed. Gabriella was told that Troy was given a key to their house earlier and Gabriella could fall asleep and he could come in. Gabriella was happy that she didn't have to see Troy for the rest of the night and she could go to sleep in peace. She fell asleep a few minutes later until loud music was played. "Fucking Troy Bolton," she groans before rolling over onto her stomach and pushing herself up with her hands. Gabriella threw on her robe and slipped on her fuzzy slippers before hearing a whole bunch of voices downstairs. "What the hell?" Gabriella saw people in her living room and eventually caught on to what was going on. Troy had put on a party at her house without her permission.

Troy saw Gabriella come downstairs and swore that he could see smoke coming out of her head, "shit," he said and took a deep breath, prepared for her words.

"What the fuck are you doing Troy? Didn't I say any parties?!"

"Lighten up Gabi," Troy smirked, "try to have some fun around here, we just won," Troy said.

"I don't give a fuck if you won or if you lose, I don't give a damn if the president was here, you disobeyed my rules and my parents and everything!" Gabriella shouted over the loud music.

Cohen came from the door and saw Gabriella yelling at Troy, "What's going on?"

"Stay out of this prep," Troy said and looked at Gabriella, "I can't just tell everyone to leave, more people are coming in a little bit," he shouts.

"MORE PEOPLE?! ARE YOU JOKING, HALF OF THE SCHOOL IS HERE ALREADY" Gabriella yelled. At that cue, Taylor and Sharpay came from the crowd, "wow Gabriella, how do you throw a party like this and don't invite us?"

"I didn't throw this party, Troy did!" Gabriella stated.

"Troy what the hell were you thinking?" Sharpay yells over the music.

"Sorry ladies and gent, but I gotta keep my people occupied so you can bitch at me tomorrow," Troy said and messes Gabriella hair up before walking off. Gabriella started charging at him, but Cohen and the girls stopped her.

Cohen got in front of Gabriella, "come on babe, just let him do what he wants and then kick his ass tomorrow, and besides I'm here to help in case something gets out of hand," he said.

Gabriella took a deep breath and then exhaled, "fine." Cohen took Gabriella's hand and led her to the backyard where there was a swing in the back.

"Are you really mad at him?"

"You think! He threw a party at my house, not his but mine and I think it's so disrespectful that he'd do that," Gabriella yells.

Cohen put an arm around her shoulder, "That's Troy though, you can't expect some respect from him," Cohen said.

"Well true, but I still wished he'd ask me or at least do it somewhere else you know," Gabriella sighs loudly and laid her head back. "I'm super tired and I just want to sleep but I know I'll have to clean up once the party is over," she groans.

"I can help you if you want me to," Cohen offers.

Gabriella shook her head, "no, you should go home and rest, I'll handle it," she said, "thanks for offering though," she smiles.

"Come on, let's go inside and enjoy the party. Might as well since it's still going," Cohen took her hand and led them inside to the house where everyone was there now.

"How the hell did everyone find out about this and it never got back to me?" she asked to no one in particular. Gabriella got herself something to drink and leaned against the wall making sure everything was okay. Gabriella guarded the stairs too because there was no way in hell someone was coming upstairs.

Troy pushed through the crowd and saw Gabriella by the stairs, "are you still going to be a bitch or are you going to have some fun?" he asked. Troy poured some alcohol into his cup and looked at her.

"Troy don't talk to me right now, you're the last person I want to talk to…so go back to your party," Gabriella said.

Troy sighed, "well I'll help you clean it up later alright so chill."

Gabriella rolled her eyes at Troy and then took a drink out of her cup. Everyone was having fun and thankfully nothing was getting thrown around and no one was trying to go upstairs. Gabriella saw Chad and Taylor talking which made Gabriella smile because those two needed to get together pronto. A couple of hours later people started to leave and Troy was greeting them and such. Finally the last people to leave were the gang. Gabriella waved at them and then hugged Cohen goodbye before watching Troy kiss Krissy goodbye, she still didn't like that scene. Gabriella started cleaning up the red cups while Troy was picking up the other stuff. He took all the alcohol evidence and got rid of it and then went to wash down the tables and such. Neither of them said anything to each other and finally the house looked new again. Gabriella tied up the last trash bag and handed it to Troy. "Take it out," she orders.

"Take it out," Troy mimics and then takes out the trash. Once he got back inside, he walked upstairs and walked past Gabriella's room when he saw her take off the robe. Troy stared for three second, mesmerized but looked away once he realized what the hell he was doing. Troy's room was up the stairs and literally the moment you reach the top of the stairs was all of Troy's room. Troy took another flight to the third floor which was his room only and he saw all the stuff laid out on the bed, "Hm," he said and then sat down on the bed. Troy thought back to when he saw Gabriella take off her robe, he felt kind of gross but at the same time he couldn't help but stare. What does that mean for Troy?

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	5. Disconcerted

**CHAPTER FIVE: **disconcerted

The next morning the sun rose through the blind in Troy's room, it was about eight in the morning on a Saturday and it was way too early for his liking. Troy pulled the covers over his head and attempted to fall back asleep, but failed to due to the smell of breakfast coming through the doors. Troy took a big whiff of the air before sitting up and getting out of bed. He grabbed a wash cloth and didn't bother grabbing his shirt off the chair. Troy went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, washed his face, and brushed his hair. The good thing about living here was he had his own bathroom since there were so many in the house. Troy put away his hygiene item before going downstairs to see Gabriella sitting at the table watching TV and enjoying some breakfast. "Hey," Troy muffled.

Gabriella glanced up from the TV to look at Troy, but then went back to minding her own business without saying a single word. Gabriella was an early person as you can tell, but she didn't even bother talking to Troy.

"Gee, can't even give me a hello…typical of you," Troy said and propped himself in one of the chairs that was the farthest from Gabriella, there was no way he was going to sit around her when she had that attitude.

"There's a plate of breakfast for you in the microwave," Gabriella picked up her glass and drank her milk.

Troy was surprised to hear she actually cooked him breakfast, he stood up and walked over to the microwave to see a plate of eggs, bacon, and sausage. He took the plate out of the microwave and got himself a glass of juice before sitting back down at the table. He could be rude and say something about her cooking, but it smelled really good and she probably would've taken it back. "Change of heart already eh?" Troy teased.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "never, just eat the damn breakfast and I don't want to hear a dumb comment come out of your mouth," she said and then finished her last bite of toast.

"Why didn't you make me any toast?" he whined.

Gabriella looked at him like he was crazy, "you can cook your damn toast by yourself, you're a big boy now," Gabriella said and washed up her plate. "Well wash your own dishes when you're done, I'm going out with my friends," she said and then turned the TV off.

"Whatever," Troy said behind a piece of bacon and then turned the TV back on to ESPN.

Gabriella didn't know why she cooked breakfast for Troy, she just felt bad because she knew he didn't know how to cook and she didn't want him burning the house down so she did it for him; it was the least she could do anyway. Gabriella went upstairs to get ready for her day date with Cohen, Taylor, and Chad. Taylor texted Gabriella last night telling her that Chad and Taylor were officially a couple so they were going to go to the movies or something in a couple of hours. Gabriella had homework to finish and she didn't want to hang out with Troy in the living room, which was pure hell. As Gabriella was putting on a new and clean shirt, she heard glass shatter and instantly she knew who it was, "damn it Troy," she muttered and went downstairs to see Troy picking up some broken glass.

"I didn't mean to-"he said getting defensive the minute he saw Gabriella, "it just fell over!"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "you're lame," she said and helped him pick it up and threw away the broken pieces. "Can you do anything right around here?" she muttered. "Why don't you go out with your girlfriend today?" she asked.

"I'm just chilling at the house today, so whatever," Troy says, smirking before propping himself on the couch.

Gabriella groaned, "Are you serious?" She followed him into the living room and leaned against the door frame, "no special party or some shit you hear me?" she warned.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," he said and flipped the channel to MTV and rested his feet on top of the arm rest.

Gabriella kicked his feet off of it, "that's disgusting," she said and then walked out of the living room, "well I'll be out, don't call me if something happens, I better come home to the house the same way it is," he said.

"Like I care where you go," he shouted out the door and then took out his cell phone and texted Chad. _What are you doing today man?_

Chad texted back: _Chillin with Gabriella, Cohen, and Taylor. Wanna come?_

Troy looked at the text and made a face: _hell no, not with that bitch and that fag boy._

_Within a few minutes Chad texted back: come on dude, give him a chance he's chill and Gabriella ain't so bad._

Troy laughed out loud: _Right and a cheetah won't kill me. Go hang out with your new friends. I'm out._

Troy got up from the couch and started up to his room to go on his laptop that he brought over. As he was walking up, he heard loud music coming from Gabriella's room and he smirked. So far he didn't hate this living thing, he was minding his own business and she was minding her own. Within a few seconds, Troy heard a loud rumbling sound and he looked out the window to see it start pouring rain, "typical whether here," he said and shook his head. The thunder was coming and if Gabriella didn't leave soon then she'd be stuck in here, with him! Troy knocked on Gabriella's door and waited for her to answer.

"What?" she asked once she opened the door to see Troy.

"Damn, be rude about it why don't you, but anyway if you want to leave you better get the hell out of here," Troy said.

"What the, this is my house what the hell-"she was cut off by him.

Troy shook his head, "no I mean, you should get out before the thunder starts coming and you'll be stuck here with the wonderful me," he smirked.

"Oh god," she said and got her stuff off her bed before heading down to the front door. By the time she got to the front door, the thunder started coming and to her luck, there was no way she was driving in this weather. Now she was screwed hanging inside with the last person she'd want to be stuck with.

* * *

Gabriella stayed up in her room with anger rushing through her. How in the world did her plans get canceled and she was stuck with Troy?! In a few hours there was going to be a small flood outside, she could predict already and the radio announcer said so. She couldn't stay in her room all day because she'd go nuts. Gabriella grabbed her book and went downstairs to see Troy in the living room already. Gabriella let out a sigh, "this isn't even his house and he's taken over the living room," she said to herself and sat down on the opposite couch.

Troy looked over at her and then back at the TV briefly. "Are you trying to watch TV or something?" he asked.

"No, I'm just sitting here, got a problem with that?" she asked.

"Actually I do, but this is your house so I'm keeping my mouth shut," he said.

Gabriella let out a defeated sigh, "look I'm already going to be stuck inside with you all day so can we at least not be rude for the day?" she asked, "I'm not in any mood for it," she looked at him.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "if it's possible then I will, but if you start to bitch at me then hell no," Troy said. The last time these two ever been nice to each other was when they had to work together on some project in middle school that was the last time he remembered spending the most time with her. "So how are you and Cohen?"

"Don't worry about it," Gabriella said. "Cohen is a nice guy unlike some people and I actually like him," Gabriella told Troy for some odd reason.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "you know he dated my girl right?"

"Which one?" she smirked.

"Marissa," Troy answered back and then rested his arm behind his head. "He cheated on her you realize that right? He's not Mr. Perfect if that's what you think," Troy said.

Gabriella shook her head, she didn't believe his words. "Well it's not in your place to tell me who's good for me and who's not, but thanks anyway," Gabriella said.

"Well I was just trying to help you out here," Troy said, "but of course you're not going to listen and when he cheats on you I'll be right there to tell you I told you so," Troy stated. "Cohen is a jackass and he hides it so girls would fall for him, and stupidly enough you did."

"Troy just shut up okay?" Gabriella sighs.

Troy shrugged his shoulders and wanted to add more, but he stopped because he didn't want to make this a bigger deal and he said he was going to be nice. Why would he even warn her anyway? It's not like he cared what happens to her, but something in him felt like he needed to protect her from bad people like him, he wasn't even sure why he even opened his mouth in the first place.

Gabriella looked at Troy and then got up from her seat, she didn't want to deal with this bullshit right now, and she wanted to go somewhere quiet where there was no one by the name of Troy around. She was so confused on why he told her all that stuff about Cohen, why would he care what happen to her anyway? He wanted her to die for all she knew and she didn't care what Troy thought. Gabriella went to her room and lay down on her bed with the door opened. The sound of her phone made her jump and on her callerID it read 'Cohen's cell'. Gabriella smiled and answered quickly, "hello?"

"Hey you, sorry about our date…stupid thunder has to cancel everything. I would come over but my car would not make it over there."

"Oh its okay, I'm just in my room away from the asshole anyway," Gabriella sighed.

She heard a laugh from him on the other side of the receiver that made her smile. "I'm sorry babe, but I'll call you later okay? My dad wants me to do some stuff for him since I have nothing better to do. Bye."

Gabriella hung up the phone and spread herself across the bed, she could hear Troy coming up the stairs and she lifted her head. "You better not be coming to my room," she said.

"I was just going to ask if you wanted to play a board game or something, I'm bored as hell," Troy offered.

Gabriella raised her eyebrow, "I'm surprise you want to interact with me," she mocks.

"Do you want to or not?" He asked impatiently.

"Fine," she said and then stood up, "I get to choose the game though," she said and went with him to the basement to find all the board games that their family had. "Here, hold the light while I look," Gabriella said and handed him the lamp. Troy held up the light for her as she dug around the shelves and boxes. "Where are those darn games?" she asked herself in particular.

"I don't know," Troy answered because he thought she was talking to him. As he was helping her look for it, he accidentally knocked the lamp out of her hand and it shut off and the room was pitched black. Gabriella screamed loudly and grabbed onto the closes thing to her and then the next thing she knew she heard something moving around in the basement which caused her to hold on tighter. Troy felt her grab onto him and he heard the noise to and he grabbed onto her and made sure he was ready to swing a punch at whatever the noise was. Somehow the light fixed and turned on by itself.

Gabriella looked up and saw that she was holding onto Troy and for a mere second they stayed in that position and then she realized what she was doing and pulled away quickly, "I-uh, um sorry," she apologized and found the board game. "Let's get the hell out of this basement" and ran up the stairs. She couldn't see his reaction, it would be too embarrassing for her, and luckily for her he didn't shove her to the ground where the gross stuff was. _What the hell was that?_ Gabriella asked herself. _Why did I have to grab onto him? Things are just going to be awkward now!_ She hit herself in the head when Troy wasn't looking and then shook her head. _Why did I feel so safe in his arm?_

_

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__REVIEW PLEASE! I really like your guys opinions so far!  
_


	6. Innovation

_**A/N:** I'm sooo sorry it took me a while to update, I was so busy with school and stuff but I'm on break for a bit so I'll update quicker!_

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**CHAPTER SIX: **innovation

"It's extra creepy down there, I don't know why you keep a basement in this house with all your shit in it," Troy said once he came up the stairs quickly. Troy hated basements, they gave him the chills and he was superstitious about them. "That's one place I'll never be going again," he said to her.

Gabriella watched Troy carefully before setting up the board game; she didn't understand how he could play it off like that. He didn't even bring it up once or ask her what the hell she was doing. Nada. Zippo. "Well we don't have a lot of room in the house so we needed somewhere to store all that stuff," Gabriella responds.

Troy laughed as if somewhere to say 'are you kidding me'. "You have the hugest house ever," Troy said, "you have all the extra room you need, but you guys just decide to store stupid crap."

"Shut up," Gabriella argues.

Troy went to get something from the fridge to drink while he waited for Gabriella to set the board game out. Though Troy acted like nothing happened, deep down he was wondering what was going on. What was that feeling in that stomach that he never felt? It was a mix of hate and the start of some butterflies. "Oh god, please no," he whispers and takes out a bottle of water. There was no way he could have feelings for Gabriella, maybe it was something else he was feeling because it sure wasn't normal. Troy went back into the living room and saw Gabriella waiting for him. Troy took a seat on the opposite side of her and leaned back on his palm. "So what is this?"

Gabriella sat Indian style and looked at him, "its monopoly," she states. "Can't you tell?" she asked.

"I can already tell this is going to be boring," he groans and then rolled the dice. As it was landing on a number, the electricity completely shut down. Luckily for them, it was early outside so there was a dark light coming inside the house. "This is great, no electricity and we're stuck in this house together and we have nothing to do besides play a lame ol' game," Troy nags.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes, "then don't fucking play," she said, "I'm tired of hearing your shit," Gabriella told him. Gabriella began to split the money and passed Troy his part before looking around for the other pieces.

"I change my mind, I don't want to play," Troy said and pushed the money away before standing up and walking off. "I'd rather go sleep anyway," Troy told her knowing it would tick her off so bad that they'd leave each other alone for the rest of the day at least.

"You asshole," Gabriella called him before putting away everything again. How could she even think of feeling something for Troy? Gabriella put away the toy and went to her room as well, she could hear movement in Troy's room and then she closed the door to her room. What the hell was she going to do for the time being?

* * *

A couple of hours later Troy was still in his room listening to his iPod. He could easily go to his house right now but his parents took his keys away because they knew he'd try to go home. Troy couldn't stand being in the house anymore but he couldn't leave because it was storming outside. He didn't want to talk to Gabriella because frankly he thought she was annoying. There was a knock on his door and he opened it to see Gabriella standing there. "What do you want?" he asked.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes, "Being the nice person that I am, I'm asking if you want lunch," she asked bitterly. She really didn't want to make him some but she knew he'd raid her fridge if she didn't cook him food.

"You're cooking it? No thanks," he joked, but she seemed to take it seriously.

"Fine then, don't even think about asking me later," she said angrily.

"I'm just kidding, chill." Troy never knew why Gabriella took everything he said so seriously. He knew that he was rude and arrogant, but that was towards her. "I want some spaghetti," he said.

"Well that's too bad, I'm not cooking spaghetti, the oven is broken you idiot but luckily for me we have one running on gas" Gabriella called out as she left and went to the kitchen. Gabriella got all the ingredients she needed to cook some sauté vegetables and shrimp. This was her ultimate favorite dish to cook and Troy was going to eat it whether he liked it or not. As Gabriella was cooking, she sang out loud to herself as she moved around the kitchen. No one was around because Troy was upstairs and she usually sang when she was alone. "_I know sometimes it's gonna rain, but baby can we make up now 'cause I can't sleep through the pain_"she belted out at the top of her lung.

Troy was on his way down to tell Gabriella he wasn't all that hungry anymore and he heard her voice out in the air. He raised his eyebrow and never noticed how nice her voice was. Troy leaned against the door frame, smirking as he was listening to Gabriella sing. "_I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you, and I don't want you to go to bed mad at me_." Troy joined along and finished her line for her, grinning.

Quickly Gabriella spun around at the sound of the voice that scared her, but at the same time she accident cut her finger with the knife she was using to cut the carrots. "Shit!" Gabriella yelled out, "fucking TROY!" Gabriella ran quickly to the sink and washed her hand under the water faucet.

Troy cringed to the sound of her swearing his name; to make it worse he hated open wound and blood it made him nauseous. He made a gross face when he watched Gabriella wash her finger. Troy smirked and went to get her a Band-Aid at the top of the fridge. "Don't be such a baby, here," he handed her the Band-Aid.

"Shut up! Never fucking show up behind me and scare the livings out of me," she yelled and placed the Band-Aid on her hand before she turned off the water. "Damn it Troy," she sighed and threw away all the carrots in case her blood had gotten on it. "You just ruined lunch so you make something your damn self," Gabriella pushed pass him and went up to her room.

Troy rolled his eyes, "she's so dramatic," he said no one in particular before going to the fridge to find something to cook up. Troy wasn't a pleasant cook himself, but he knew how to whip up some eggs and bacon. It was breakfast food but it worked for Troy, anything did. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Troy said. He promised himself not to get soft on Gabriella- that was one thing he promised not to do ever. She was a mean girl to him when they were younger and they were never allowed to be friends according to his own rules. Troy got out two plates and began scrambling the eggs in the pan. Once he finished up with the eggs he placed it on the eggs and went back to the cabinet and grabbed out 4 slices of white bread. He placed the white bread onto the plate and got some butter and peanut butter- his specialty. Troy then got two forks and shook his head. He was ashamed in himself for making Gabriella some breakfast after the way she's been treating him. He went up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"What?" she answered with a huge attitude tone.

"Look, I made you some lunch," Troy said on the other side of the door.

There were no words or sounds coming from Gabriella's side of the door until he heard footsteps minutes later and then she turned the knob to open it up. Gabriella stared at him for a second and then looked down at their plate of food. She was shocked that he'd cook- for her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off first.

"Don't say anything, I'm not being nice, I'm just doing what I was told alright so if you think I'm Mr. Nice guy think again because I never liked you and never will," Troy said defensively before she could go on to say something mean.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and shook her head at him before taking the plate. "Well no eating upstairs so we're going to have to go eat downstairs," she said and went downstairs into the dining room. Gabriella got herself a bottle of water before she sat down and began eating.

"Wow, the least you could do for someone who cooked for you is bring them something to drink," he got himself a coke out of the fridge and then sat down.

"You're a big boy, you can get it yourself," she smirked and slowly ate the sandwich. To her surprise, it was actually good; she hadn't eaten something like this before in her life.

Troy could tell by the look on her face that she liked it; he smirked and felt satisfied himself. Troy could tell Gabriella didn't want to show her enjoyment which caused Troy to smile a bit.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Troy said and then drank out of his can of coke.

Gabriella placed her fork down and crossed her arm on the table, "so I'm curious; why did you cook me some lunch when clearly I've been a bitch – purposely I'll add, to you?" she asked.

"Someone had to cook around here and clearly you weren't going to do the job so I did it," Troy said carelessly. "Can I get a thank you please?"

Gabriella hesitated for a moment, would that mean she was nice if she said thank you? "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Troy said, smiling and smirking at the same time. When he did smile, he thought back to when they were in the basement and he held on to her.

Gabriella at that same time thought of that moment as well. What was she thinking and why was she feeling like that? "Look, if you're willing to cooperate, we have a couple days living together and if you're willing to be nice than I will too, we don't have to be nice at school or even interact with each other but I'm sick of bitching all the time," Gabriella said.

_You're good at it._ That was what Troy wanted to say but he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't care, up to you."

Gabriella nods her head, "and that also means you can't interfere with me and Cohen because I really like this boy okay?" Gabriella warned Troy ahead of time.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "whatever, he's a bad dude and you're not seeing it so if you want to get hurt be my guest because I can care less," Troy said.

Gabriella sighed and let it go; she didn't want to talk to him about Cohen that was just weird. Gabriella finished her plate and placed it into the sink. "You wanna play the game board now?" she asked.

"Sure," Troy said and put his plate away before taking a seat with her in the living room floor. Gabriella got the game pieces ready and for the first time these two were actually going to do something together.

"Okay you go first," Gabriella handed him the dice and Troy rolled it. As it landed on a double six the electricity went back on and both Gabriella and Troy cheered. The two hugged each other and quickly when they realized they were hugging, they quickly pulled apart and scrambled to their feet.

"I'm gonna watch TV," Troy said quickly.

"Yeah…and I'm gonna go on the computer," Gabriella said and then the two went separate ways.

"Gabriella," Troy called out.

"Yeah?"

"You want to watch a movie or something?" he asked and then sat down on the couch, "We can find something on demand and watch something," Troy suggested.

As Gabriella was going to say yes the door bell rung. "Hold that thought," Gabriella said and went to the door to see Cohen waiting for her. A smile came across her face and she quickly embraced him; so excited to see him. "Cohen!" Gabriella exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm here to take away your misery and pain from that boy," Cohen smirked at Troy.

Troy watched Cohen and Gabriella hug and he shook his head. What was he even thinking about being nice to her? She only used him so he wouldn't make her life miserable when they were stuck in the same roof for the power outage. He should have known as soon as someone came then she'd be Miss Bitch again. He knew he shouldn't have been nice; it was a mistake he wasn't going to make again.

* * *

**Yeah. Review please.**


	7. Repentance

**Chapter SEVEN:** Repentance  
(re·pen·tance)_n._  
**1. **The act or process of repenting.

Gabriella grabbed her coat and her over sized purse on the kitchen table before going to get her house keys on the rack. "I'm leaving," Gabriella told Troy.

"I don't care what you do," Troy called out from the living room.

Gabriella sighed. For one second, she thought Troy changed and was going to be nice to her; how wrong she was. "Such a jerk always will be a jerk." She closed her front door after the two of them left and got into the car with Cohen. Questionably Gabriella looked at Cohen, "Are you sure your car can make it through this amount of puddles from the rain?"

"Well I did make it to your house didn't I?" Cohen started his car. "Where do you want to go? My house perhaps? My dad isn't home," he suggested.

Gabriella smiled, "As much fun as that sounds, we're not officially dating and you know how I'm waiting before I- well you know," Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. Gabriella has been saving herself for someone special and she knew she could wait and whoever she was going to date was going to have to respect that.

"Gabriella, you know that's not what I meant," Cohen said defensively.

Gabriella put her hand up to stop him from ranting, "I'm just saying," she answered back.

"Well don't assume," Cohen shot back and drove off.

Gabriella looked at Cohen with a curious look on her face. She wasn't sure what had gotten into him because usually he was the sweet and nice guy, but today he seemed a bit rude. "Are you okay?" Gabriella put her hand on top of his which was on the shift stick.

"I'm fine," he took his hand and put both of them on the steering wheel. "I'll just take you back home," Cohen said and turned his car around. He stopped in front of her house and didn't bother to look at her.

"What's gotten into you Cohen, seriously?"

Cohen shrugged his shoulders and waited for her to get out.

Gabriella sighed and leaned back in her seat. "I give up," Gabriella started to get out of the car and as she was still in the process of getting out he drove off and the door shut on its own. "Damn it," Gabriella watched the car disappear and went back into the house.

"Who goes there?" She heard Troy's voice call from the living room.

"It's me," Gabriella answered back.

"What are you doing back?" he asked. The TV volume went down as he asked her.

Gabriella started for the stairs and didn't answer him back. She knew if she told him, he'd laugh and say how he was right this whole time. Gabriella didn't understand why Cohen was acting all weird. One second they were fine and the next he's acting like a total jerk. Gabriella shut her bedroom door behind her and fell back onto her bed. The red light from her alarm clock read 4:36 PM and she sighed. "This is going to be a long night," she told herself. She was thankful there was electricity or else she'd be extremely bored. Gabriella got out her laptop from the floor and went on her Facebook. Gabriella glanced up to the sound of someone opening her door. "Don't you learn how to knock?"

Troy smirked, "I don't follow rules," Troy said and leaned against the wall by the door. "What's going on?" he asked her coolly.

"I don't want to talk about it," she had her eyes on the computer and her fingers were on the touch pad. She began clicking on random pictures just because she had something to keep her eyes on.

Troy rolled his eyes at her comment, "stop being dramatic," Troy said.

"Get out of my room," Gabriella told him.

Troy scoffed at her attempt to kick him out. "I know why you're mad, you thought Cohen would come and sweep you off your feet but then you found out I was right about him right?" Troy laughed. "I warned you but you didn't listen, now you're the dumb one," Troy taunted.

Gabriella tried her best to ignore him and continued pressing random stuff on the computer.

"He tried to get in your pants huh? But then you wouldn't let him because you want to save yourself for some little wimp," Troy continued to taunt her. There was no way he was going to get soft when he knew he was right all along.

"Shutup," she warned.

"What are you going to do? Cry about it?"

Gabriella clenched her fist together and started breathing heavily. "Get out of my room, this will be the last time I tell you that," Gabriella said. Troy was just like a little boy who annoys his older sister all the time.

"And if I don't?" he challenged.

Gabriella grabbed her pillow and chucked it at him. "GET THE HELL OUT!" Gabriella was practically screaming now.

Troy smirked, "okay okay, you don't have to start throwing things," Troy said and gave her the piece sign before going up to his guest room. Troy knew he got into her head because he could tell by the look on her face. That was something he wanted to do and so far he was on track to push her over the limit. Troy went into his room and checked his cell phone. "Damn, twelve miss calls." Troy checked it and saw four from Krissy, five from Marissa, and three from Chad. Troy dialed Chad's number and waited for him to answer. "What's up? You called?"

"_Yeah, what are you doing tonight?"_

Troy laid his head back on the white pillow and crossed one leg over the other. "I don't know, I'm trying to get the fuck out of this house though," he said.

"_Well there's a party at Zeke's, you should come."_

"Alright cool, I will. Bye man," he hung up and closed his eyes to fall asleep for a bit. He prayed Gabriella didn't know about the party or decided not to go because he didn't want her there at all. He knew people loved Gabriella because she was friendly to everyone; that was one main reason why she was so popular. But this was Troy's friend and people loved him.

* * *

"What?" Troy groaned as he rolled over in his bed.

"Are you going or what?" Gabriella called from the other side of the door.

Troy's eyes instantly opened, "going where?" he said steadily. _Please don't tell me Gabriella heard about this party. Please don't tell me Gabriella heard about this party. _He repeated that sentence in his head until she spoke up again._  
_

"To Zeke's party, I'm driving and so if you want to go you better hurry your ass up," Gabriella said impatiently. That was another thing as well, when Gabriella and Troy's parent left, they didn't let Troy take the car and Gabriella was the only one to have the car.

Fuck. "You're going?"

"Yeah, so hurry the hell up." Troy heard Gabriella's heels click away until he couldn't hear it anymore.

"Eff my life," Troy sighed and got ready for the party. He took longer than Gabriella had intended and she knew he did it on purpose.

Gabriella pulled out of the driveway after he got in the car. It was around nine thirty now and people were already there. "Took you long enough," Gabriella told him. "You're such a girl."

Troy didn't say anything while he put on his seat belt. There was no reason to talk to her, he didn't feel like it.

Gabriella rolled her eyes at his silence and started driving to Zeke's. Zeke didn't live very far from Gabriella; it was about a fifteen minute drive from her house. She arrived at the neighborhood and saw bunch of cars parked all around. "Where am I going to park?" Gabriella scanned around for a parking spot.

"Park right fucking there," Troy saw a small gap between two cars. "Just parallel and you'll make it."

"My car is not going to fit Troy, don't you understand?" Gabriella yelled.

Troy smirked, "Try it! It will fit," Troy said with irritation in his voice.

"It won't!" Gabriella shouted back.

"Gabby," Troy was the only one who called her that and it's been a while since he has. It was weird because at that same moment both of them looked at each other before Gabriella started bickering again.

"I'll go park at the entrance," Gabriella said and drove to the furthest spot.

"Damn it, now we're going to have to walk," Troy mumbled and the two of them got out of the car and walked with a huge gap between them. They arrived at the house and instantly everyone looked at the two and started whispering to each other.

"No. We're NOT dating!" Troy informed before some rumor started. "Shame on anyone who thinks that," he said and pushed past them.

"Thank god too," Gabriella smirked and waved to some people she knew who were outside smoking and drinking. When they both got inside they split and Troy saw Chad and Zeke.

Chad gave Troy a handshake and then stared at him. "What's this I hear about you and Gabriella dating?"

"What the fuck? Word gets around hella fast. Words that are rumors so don't believe it. You know I'll never date that –"Troy was cut off.

"Don't say it," Zeke said. Zeke passed Troy a red cup with alcohol in it and grinned. "Drink up boy," Zeke yelled over the loud music.

Troy grinned and cheered his cup with his guy friends before looking around. He saw Gabriella in the distance and she looked like she was on her way over to Cohen who was in the corner with a couple of people. Troy didn't understand how she kept on crawling back to him after all Troy has warned her about.

* * *

"Cohen," Gabriella pushed passed the people covering him and stood in front of him. "Can we talk?" she asked.

"About what?" Cohen asked with a careless look on his face.

Gabriella sighed and grabbed his arm and took him away from his friends. The music was way too loud and it wasn't helping when he was sitting next to one of the speakers. Gabriella led him out to the backyard where it was quieter. "What the hell is up with you today? Don't even say you're fine because you're not," Gabriella said.

"Don't worry about it," he said and tried to walk away but she grabbed him back with her hand. "Fine you want to know? You spent the whole day with Troy Bolton and when I asked you to hang out you refused to. I tried to save you but you said you didn't want to come over," Cohen said.

Gabriella shook her head in disbelief, "I didn't hang out with Troy, and we were living in the same house okay?" Gabriella couldn't believe he'd think something like that. "You know how much I hate the kid, what makes you think I'd rather hang out with him than you?" she asked.

"Did he say anything about me?" Cohen asked.

Gabriella sighed, "No. Well- yes but it's nothing to worry about," Gabriella said.

Cohen shook his head, "I'm leaving," he said and walked back inside. "I'll call you later, but I can't stand being in the same place with that guy, he's not good."

Gabriella shook her head. Why did Cohen have to be so stubborn and immature about this. "Don't go, please?"

"Bye Gabs," he said and walked back in.

Gabriella let out a sigh of frustration before going back inside where she ran into Taylor and Sharpay. "My day has been so weird," she told her two best friends.

"Why what happened?" Taylor asked.

"Lots happened; just don't worry about it okay? Let's party," Gabriella went over to the drinks and got herself some alcohol.

"Are you sure you should be drinking?" Sharpay asked.

Gabriella shrugged. "Who cares? I can do whatever I want," Gabriella chugged the cup of alcohol before filling it up again.

Taylor stopped her before she downed that cup as well. "Did you drive here?"

Gabriella nodded her head. "Yes, but Troy can drive home," Gabriella drank her cup and then went out to the dance floor.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be bad?" Sharpay asked Taylor.

"It's not just you," Taylor told Sharpay.

Gabriella danced with a couple random people she didn't know and someone offered her some more alcohol. She took the cup and drank it and then another cup after that. Gabriella hated to drink, but she was so angry she just needed to let loose. After a couple of cups, it finally hit her that she was drunk. She got off the dance floor and fell back onto the couch. Her head started spinning and she felt like she was going to pass out any second.

Taylor, who was sitting with Chad saw this and got up and ran over to her friend. "Gab," she shook her friend and then Sharpay came over.

"What's wrong with her?" Sharpay asked.

"She's knocked out," Taylor shook her head. "I knew this would happen, we shouldn't have let her drink."

Chad who saw this as well walked over to Troy who only had drunk one cup of beer and finished the night with bottled water. "Troy, Gabriella passed out."

Troy smirked, "how the hell did I know?" That was a reason he didn't drink because he knew he'd have to drive home. "Little goody two shoe isn't so good after all huh?" he looked over to Gabriella and laughed.

"Troy that's not cool. Can you take her home?" Chad asked.

"Hell no, she's a bitch and she can find her own way home," Troy said.

"Are you being serious right now?" Chad couldn't believe his friend would say something like that and actually mean it. "If her parents knew something happened to her you know they'll blame you right? So you better do something to make yourself take her home!"

"Fifty bucks and I will," Troy still found this funny and wanted to make something out of it.

Zeke came over to Troy and pushed him back a bit. "You're going to take her home now alright? Being a fucking grown up and do it." Zeke has grown up since he started dating Sharpay and now he acted like a grown up as well.

"Okay chill," Troy pushed Zeke back and went over to Gabriella with Zeke and Chad. "I'll take her home, but you guys will have to carry her to the car, I'm not going to touch her," Troy said and got her keys from Taylor. The guys picked her up and took her to the car and Troy got into the driver seat. While Taylor was buckling her, Sharpay looked at Troy.

"You better not do anything," she warned.

"That's fucking gross," Troy shouted.

Chad shook his head, "chill she's just saying. Call me when you're home," he said and then Troy took off in the car. The whole ride home, Gabriella was still and silent; there was no noise coming out of her whatsoever. Troy turned on the radio and saw her stir a bit and then he heard her groan before he turned off the music. Fifteen minutes later he pulled into her driveway and sighed. "Great," he mumbled and got to her side to pick her up. He carried her into the house with some difficulty of opening the door. Once he got in, he took Gabriella to her room and laid her down. Then he went downstairs to get a bucket and a wet towel and some water. Troy has been in this situation before so he knew what to do. He placed the bucket by her bed and put the water on her table. He took the wet towel and washed her face slowly which caused the make up to go everywhere but he knew she wouldn't mind. After finishing he opened the back door a little to let some air in and then turned off the light before shutting the door. Troy went into his room and lay on his bed. He knew he was going to regret being nice to her. Troy promised himself not to be nice to her again, but when it comes down to it; he actually has to care for her.

* * *

**Review please!**


	8. Resort

**Chapter EIGHT:** Resort  
(re·sort)_v._  
**1. **To look to when in need.

"Rise and shine sunshine," Taylor opened the blinds of Gabriella's windows and the curtain on her backdoor. It was around nine in the morning and Taylor came over to see how Gabriella was doing after getting drunk last night.

Gabriella groaned and rolled on her stomach. She had the biggest hang over and she knew it wouldn't go away for a while. "Go away," she mumbled into the pillow.

Taylor chuckled at her best friend and sat down on the bed; the side Gabriella was laying on. "Get up, you need to go eat something before you really get sick," Taylor said.

Gabriella groaned louder this time and then rolled onto her back so she was looking at Taylor. "What happened last night?"

"Well let's see, you were really upset and decided to drink; then you knocked out and Troy had to take you home," Taylor shrugged.

"TROY TOOK ME HOME?" Gabriella sat up a bit too quick and felt the blood rush to her head. Gabriella quickly laid back down and looked at Taylor. "Why did you guys let him take me home?" she sighed.

Taylor stared at her best friend for a second. She couldn't believe Gabriella would be ungrateful like that. "Well first of all, he came with you and you two live in the same house so it would make sense. And second of all, none of us could take your car," Taylor added.

Gabriella shook her head and saw the bucket next to her with a glass of water. "Who did this then?" she asked.

"That would be Troy," Taylor smiled.

Gabriella blinked a few times before thinking to herself; how could Troy do something so nice when he hated her so much? "Oh."

"Oh is right, you better thank him. But I have to go, I just wanted to check on you before I went church," she said.

Gabriella smiled, "Thanks," she said. "Bye Tay."

Taylor left and Gabriella got out of bed. Boy did she have a huge headache that she couldn't get over. She went into the bathroom and took a long shower. After she got out and got dressed she went downstairs where she could smell bacon and eggs. "Smells so good," she said to herself quietly before seeing Troy sitting at the table shirtless while eating and watching TV. Gabriella's stomach flipped and she stopped her footsteps. _What was that feeling inside my stomach?_ She asked herself. Gabriella went to the table where she didn't see any breakfast for her. "Where's mine?" she asked.

"Make it yourself," Troy didn't take his eyes off the TV screen as he answered her.

Gabriella smirked then narrowed her eyes at Troy. "Rude," she said before getting up to find some toast and butter. "The least you could have done was make me something," she added.

"I already did enough for you; more than I wanted," he finally took his eyes off and looked at her. "Thanks for ruining my night," he told her.

Gabriella rolled her eyes when she was facing away from him. "You'll live," she simply answered. Gabriella watched as her toast popped up and she sat down at the table across from him. "Can I ask why you agreed to take me home last night? You don't do nice things like that."

"Actually, I don't do nice things _for you,_ but I'm a nice guy and I do things," Troy corrected her.

Gabriella glared at him and began eating her toast in silence. She had no plans for today and she prayed that Troy had so he could get out of the house. "What are you doing today?"

"What's it to you?" he snapped again and got up out of his seat. He washed his dishes and then went to go lay in the living room.

"You're such an asshole," she said out loud knowing he'd hear her. She hoped he did too so he could actually comprehend it. Gabriella went back upstairs to her bedroom and began to read a book. Today was going to be boring for her. A little cleaning around the house could probably make her day a little better, but if Troy stuck around there was no way she could get anything done. Gabriella was tired of his mean act; she wanted him to get over the fact that he can't be mean to her forever. He was the reason why she was mean to him as well.

"I'm leaving."

Gabriella heard Troy say he was leaving and heard the door slam shut. "Thank god," she sighed and went out of her room and downstairs. "I can call the girls to come over after I'm finish cleaning," Gabriella said to herself and then started washing and cleaning up around the house. It was nice to be home alone again; no parent, no one to boss her around and most importantly no Troy. About an hour later, she finished the kitchen and decided that was enough for the day. Gabriella went to get her cell phone and called up Sharpay and Taylor to come over. They agreed and in a few minutes they showed up at her door.

"Hey girls," she said and allowed them into her house.

"Hey Gabs, how's life with Troy?" Sharpay asked.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "like hell."

Taylor laughed, "Oh it can't be that bad you know, he's taking care of you right?" she asked.

"That doesn't matter; I just want him to leave so I can live my own life!" Gabriella groaned and fell back onto the sofa.

Sharpay sat down next to her and put her purse on the table. "What happened with you and Cohen last night?" she asked.

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders and sat up straight. She didn't understand what was going on with Cohen either, one minute he's the best person and the next he's a complete jerk that she didn't want to be around. "Honestly I have no idea; he's flipping out about some crap and blaming everything on me. I just think he needs time to cool off," she said.

Taylor sighed, "I don't think he's a good guy for you, he seemed at first but not anymore," she said. Taylor watched out for Gabriella a lot of the times and most of the time Gabriella listened to Taylor.

"But the thing is I really like Cohen, I don't want to screw this one up you know," Gabriella stated. "Let's not talk about Cohen anymore," she said, changing the subject. The other two girls looked at each other and shrugged before agreeing with Gabriella.

"What are you doing later around six?" Taylor asked.

"I'm not sure, probably nothing…why?" Gabriella asked.

Sharpay grabbed some tickets out of her purse and handed one to Gabriella, "We're going to a concert!" Sharpay smiled.

Gabriella took the ticket and smiled, "Really? Yay! I love this group," Gabriella exclaimed and hugged her friend. This was a good way to have some fun over the weekend; it was already ruined at first from Troy and Cohen. This time there weren't going to be any boys or anyone to ruin her night, she was sure of that.

* * *

It was later around the time Gabriella had to leave for the concert. Troy hadn't come home yet so she assumed he was with either his girlfriend or his friend. She didn't really think too much about it though because she had to go to a concert. Gabriella woke up from her nap and looked over at the clock. "Shit!" she scrambled out of bed and quickly went to go wash up. She was late and she had to meet up with the girls. "Ah, I'm going to be extra late," Gabriella exclaimed and then heard her phone rang. Taylor.

"Taylor? I'm so sorry I'm running late," Gabriella was breathing heavily from running around.

"Well how long are you? We're going to be late for the concert."

Gabriella exhaled and stopped because she couldn't find her shoes. She ran her hand through her hair and placed one hand on her hip. "You two are going to have to go first, I'll drive myself there and meet you," Gabriella explained to them.

"Okay, hurry up though okay?"

"Yeah I will bye." Gabriella then quickly went to change into some better clothes and into her shoes before she finally was done. She went downstairs and then out of the house, locking the door behind her. When she got to her driveway, she was digging for her keys in her purse. She then looked up and noticed her car gone. "What the…where's my car?" she asked herself. She searched around and didn't see it parked outside either and then went to check her garage and it still wasn't there. _Was I too drunk to remember where I park...TROY. He drove me home last night! _Gabriella hit herself in the head and should have known Troy would have taken her car without asking her. "I'm going to _kill_ him," she yelled out loud and then went to grab her mom car key off of the rack inside the house and took her Lexus instead. She wasn't allowed to drive her mom's car though her mom was on a trip. Gabriella drove off and quickly sped to the concert that was about a forty five minute drive. Gabriella dialed Taylor's number and got her voicemail. "Hey Tay, I'm on my way I'll be there soon, bye." Gabriella next called Sharpay and left her the exact same message. Neither of them picked up so she assumed they were in the concert. Half way there, her car started to make funny noises. "Oh please no…it's a Lexus," Gabriella cried. Gabriella pulled over and checked under the hood and saw something had burned. "Damn it!" Gabriella tried fixing it but she knew she didn't know anything about cars. Gabriella called Taylor and Sharpay again and neither of them picked up. Gabriella next tried the boys including Cohen but none of them picked up either. "The time I need them, no one answers!" she grabs her hair in frustration and then went through her phone book again. Her last resort.

"What do you want from my life?"

"Shut up Troy, look my car broke down and I'm stranded in the street. Wait, let me rephrase that. My mom's car broke down because someone took _my_ car! Who said you could take _my_ car Troy!" Gabriella practically screamed over the receiver. She emphasized the 'my' so he could hear it clearly.

There was a silence on the other end before Troy spoke up. "Well you said you weren't going anywhere so I thought I could take it."

"Well next time ask," she snapped.

"So why are you calling me?" Troy asked.

Gabriella couldn't believe she was going to ask Troy for a favor, he was the last one she wanted to ask but no one else was answering. "I need you to come get me, I'm on exit 124," Gabriella quietly said.

"What? Can you say that louder?"

"I need you to come get me," she calmly said.

Troy scoffed, "I'm sorry I didn't hear the first three words."

Gabriella knew he was trying to make her angry, she could just tell by his persona. "I. Need. You."

"Please?"

"Please," Gabriella repeated. "You're an asshole you know that?" Gabriella muttered. She could tell that Troy was smirking on the other end.

"I'll think about it." Click.

"TROY!" He had already hung up though and Gabriella sighed. She was going to have to call for help if Troy wasn't going to show up. She would wait about fifteen minutes in case he did show up. He was a real jerk and should have known he probably wouldn't have come anyway. "I should just call for help," Gabriella quietly said. Gabriella's phone rang and she quickly answered it, "Troy?"

"No…this is Cohen."

Shit. "Cohen? Oh hey…" Gabriella sighed in relief.

"Why'd you call?" he asked.

"I'm stuck on exit 124, I was hoping you could come help me out because I'm really stranded and no one is helping me," she said.

Cohen didn't say anything on the other end, "I'm kind of busy right now," Cohen quietly said.

Gabriella sighed, "Please Cohen? I'm stranded and I'm scared," Gabriella said.

"Okay…give me fifteen minutes." Click.

Gabriella sighed with happiness, "thank god," Gabriella said. Gabriella sat in her car and wondered how she was going to explain this to her mom. She couldn't just pull out hundreds of dollars from her bank account without her mom asking questions. She had no idea about cars and prayed that Cohen did so he could help her out.

Fifteen minutes finally passed and a familiar car pulled up. It wasn't Cohen, it wasn't Taylor or Sharpay. It was her car. Troy actually showed up to pick her up…and so was Cohen.

Troy rolled down his window and stuck his head out of the car. "Hurry up," he yelled.

Gabriella hesitated, unsure if she should tell him that Cohen was coming but Troy would get all rude even more angry with her. Cohen could have not even left yet and it wouldn't be all that bad. If Cohen was to show up though, he'd get so angry with her.

"Are you coming or not?" Troy cut her thoughts off and then impatiently pressed on the gas.

Gabriella finally decided and got into the passenger seat. "Thanks," Gabriella said.

"Whatever," Troy said and pulled out of the road and drove back to the house.

Gabriella dialed Taylor's number and left her a message telling her she wouldn't be able to make it and then she dialed Cohen's.

"Where are you?" he asked.

Gabriella bit her bottom lip and looked at Troy who was concentrating on the street. "I got picked up already, I'm sorry I didn't know Troy was coming and so he just picked me up," Gabriella apologized and she heard a click. He had hung up on her.

"Aw, your little boyfriend mad that I picked you up?" Troy asked.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "he's not my boyfriend and it's none of your business," Gabriella snapped.

Troy laughed, "Why are you getting all mad at me? I'm doing something that I don't want to do, so if anything; you should be thanking me."

Gabriella glared at him and then crossed her arm, "Shut up."

"You're always a bitch, I do something nice and you bitch about it," Troy angrily said.

Gabriella turned so she was facing him, "why are you being nice to me all of a sudden? You're supposed to be an asshole."

Troy didn't answer her at first and then finally he turned his head to her. "Well unlike you, I have a nice side and my parents told me to look out for you," he said. "If anything happened to you then…"

"Then what?" Gabriella asked.

"Then my parents would've killed me," Troy finished his sentence.

Gabriella laughed at his answer. "Just admit that you care for me," Gabriella knew this would get to his head and make him mad.

"No, because I don't."

"Uh huh, I'm sure," Gabriella looked at him once before facing forward. "It's okay, I know you do."

"Gabby you don't know what you're talking about."

Gabriella smiled at him and sighed, "If I had it my way, we'd be friends."

"But too bad you can't have everything you want," he answered back and pulled into the house. Troy got out of the car and went back inside.

Gabriella sighed and went inside after him. Honestly Gabriella wondered if these two will ever be friends, they were enemies since they were little. What made her think that he was going to change now?

* * *

**Eh, I kinda didn't like this chapter; it was just a fill in pretty much. Not too much going in this chapter but it kinda brings Troy and Gabriella closer in a way. Review and enjoy please!**


	9. Arraignment

**CHAPTER NINE: **Arraignment  
(a·rain·ment)_n_.  
1. a calling into question or a finding fault, esp. with respect to the value or virtue of something;

"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked as she followed in after him. The house was pretty cold and empty by the time they got back and Gabriella went to go turn on the heater.

Troy turned towards the steps and began heading up the steps. "Sleep," he simply said.

"You're not going to eat dinner or anything?" Gabriella asked him nicely.

Troy stopped walking and turned around so he was facing her, "you know what? Cut the nice act, I don't need your bullshit okay?" Troy turned back around and went up to his guest room. Troy couldn't deal with Gabriella right now, he knew she just wanted to be nice so he'd act nice to her too, but there was no way he was going to let Gabriella have the power.

Gabriella glared at him before going into the kitchen and fixing herself something to eat. She was stressed out at the moment because Cohen was mad at her and she did not like Troy at the moment either. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and not have to deal with boys like Troy. Boys like Troy were boys who don't think, they don't use their mind and think that they can do whatever they want; no rules. 'Only a few more days' she told herself. The two of them were both old enough to deal with their own lives but frankly Troy's parents didn't think he was responsible enough and Gabriella couldn't agree any more.

Gabriella heard someone coming downstairs as she was eating her dinner and saw Troy come into the kitchen. Boy did he look mad. His face was dark and his eyebrows were facing down. Right now would not be a good time to mess with Troy. "Change your mind?" she asked.

"No." Troy went into the fridge to grab the carton of milk and went to pour himself a glass of milk. He didn't make any eye contact with her and went into the living room to watch TV.

Gabriella sighed to herself, "If I'm going to survive in this house, I better act nice," she told herself and went into the living room with him.

"How many times do I have to tell you Gabi, leave me alone," this time his voice was more firm then angry.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at Troy, who was he to tell her what to do. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Gabriella asked.

"Stay the fuck out of my business," Troy kept his eye on the TV and ignored Gabriella as much as he could. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed that she wasn't budging and that was pissing Troy off. "Aren't you going to leave now?"

Gabriella smirked and knew that she was pissing Troy off; oh, how much she loved that feeling. "This is my house and when you're under my roof, I can do whatever I want," Gabriella spoke with a calm tone.

Suddenly Troy rapidly turned towards her that caused Gabriella to flinch and Troy sat up in his seat. "Did you fucking tell Marissa that I was dating someone else?"

Gabriella scoffed at him, "why the hell would I want to deal with that shit?" Gabriella asked him. She couldn't believe he'd accuse her, but then it was reasonable.

"Well someone told her and she broke up with me, no one breaks up with Troy Bolton," Troy stated.

Gabriella laughed when he said that, "Sorry hun, but you're not all that," Gabriella said and stood up from her spot. "It's about time one of them found out anyway, you are not boyfriend material," Gabriella spoke and walked off to her room.

"Screw you," Troy muttered under his breath and lay back in his seat. Marissa wasn't his girlfriend anymore, he still had his other girl, and he could easily find another girlfriend if he wanted. In fact, he could have all the girls in the world; all but one.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Noo…" Troy groaned into the pillow and pressed the big snooze/sleep off button. His mind wondered into another world where the grass was green and the sun was shining. There were girls all around laying on the grass and he was the only boy around, this indeed was one of Troy's dreams. Troy reached for one of the girls, but there was something holding onto his feet. '_Get up'_ Troy glanced around to see where the noise was coming from. He turned his head rapidly side to side to see if he can notice the girl. '_Get up Troy; you're going to be late'_. Where was that voice coming from? Gabriella's face popped up and his dream turned dark and scary.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Troy quickly opened his eyes and saw Gabriella's face there; his dream became a reality. "Damn it Gabi, my dream was great until I heard your voice," Troy said in a sleepy voice.

"Well you're going to be late for school, so you better hurry your ass up and get ready or I'm leaving without you," Gabriella opened the blinds just to make him angry before she turned on her heel and exited his room.

"Bitch," he muttered. Troy made his bed before he left the room and went to wash up; he took around ten minutes to do all the hygiene and another five minutes to get his hair right. Troy got dressed into a pair of jeans, a white shirt, and a black jacket. A honking noise was coming from outside and as he took longer, the honk became more impatient. Troy grabbed his backpack and grabbed a croissant before going to Gabriella's car.

"Finally. You're such a girl," Gabriella pulled out of the driveway and headed to East High. Neither of the two spoke one word to each other until they arrived at the school. Students were piled out in the courtyard and busses were finally arriving. Gabriella and Troy both got out of the car at the same time and walked a good distance from each other. As they approached the front door, Troy got stopped by his girlfriend and she pulled him aside.

"What's up Krissy?" Troy placed one arm on the brick wall of the school and one leg crossed over the other slightly. Girls in the distance were waving at him and he gave them his charming smile with a wink. Freshman & sophomore girls worshipped the ground he walked on and he loved every minute of it; especially when they do stuff for him.

Krissy took notice of Troy's smile and wink towards the other girls and she rolled her eyes, "look, I know about Marissa," Krissy firmly said.

"The fuck? Who told you?" Troy crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes. "Babe she's just my friend, you're the only girl for me," Troy lied.

"Troy don't fuck around with me, I'm not stupid okay? I deserve better and you're not the boy for me," Krissy stepped back from Troy and walked away.

"It's all good, I can have any girl I want, I don't need you in my life anyway," Troy called out to her and then clenched his fist.

Chad and Zeke approached Troy not long after Krissy walked away from him. "What's up with that?" Chad asked.

Troy shook his head; he wondered who was spilling all of his secrets to the girls. He lost two girlfriends in less than twenty four hours; that's probably a record. "Marissa broke up with me last night because she found out about Krissy and now Krissy just broke up with me because she found out about Marissa, did any of you say anything?" Troy's voice was raising now.

"Dude, you know we'd never betray you. Though we do hate your actions, but you're our best friend," Zeke spoke for the both of them. "Maybe one of the girls said something," Zeke suggested.

"Well I know Taylor wouldn't say anything," Chad defended Taylor quickly. "And definitely Sharpay wouldn't say anything because she can careless," Chad added.

Troy's eyes looked up at the sky for a moment; this was what he did to think most of the time. "Then that leaves only one person," Troy clenched his fist tighter this time and then stormed into the school. She couldn't be far because she just walked into the school. Troy ignored all the other people who said hi and turned the corner quickly to reveal the three girls. "Gabriella," Troy firmly said out loud.

"What?" Gabriella turned around and saw an angry Troy stomping her way. Uh oh. She knew she was in trouble by the look of his face. "What do you want Bolton?"

"I know you told Krissy and Marissa," Troy shouted and everyone turned to look at them.

Gabriella was taken aback by his tone; he hadn't ever shouted at her like this before. It was scaring her a bit, but she didn't show any fear. Underclassmen were stopping to witness some great drama and other students were ignoring the two of them, those who were ignoring knew what they were doing because usually the drama between Troy and Gabriella weren't ones that people should get into. "And why would I have the time to do that?"

"Because you're trying to ruin my life!" Troy continued to shout in the hallway, at this point he didn't care who heard.

Gabriella stepped back from him and she was practically against the locker. The two girls saw their boyfriends and left to them. Gabriella shook her head at Troy and smirked a little, "I can careless about your life, but you have no right to accuse me of that shit, I don't care if they broke up with you but never ever raise your voice at me like that," Gabriella felt her own voice raising as well. "Get your facts straight before you accuse someone," Gabriella stated.

Troy opened his mouth to say something but for the first time he had nothing to say. He closed his mouth and stormed off from the scene. He couldn't even stand to look at her face, he knew she did it but he needed evidence. There had to be a reason why she did it and deny that she did it; Troy needed to know why.

* * *

Gabriella stood in the kitchen waiting for the pot of water to boil. She had her iPod plugged into the iHome and blasted the music. She stood with her hair wet from a shower that she deeply needed. Volleyball practice was crucial because they were in the next round of playoffs that were in two days. Troy wasn't home yet because he was at practice and she had the whole house to herself. It was nice to finally be home alone again without her enemy in the next room. Gabriella stared at the open fire and went into another zone. Her mind wandered about her fight with Troy today and she wondered why it all went down. Gabriella didn't like when he got super angry because it scared her; if she was a boy then Troy would probably punch her if he got the chance. Cohen didn't talk to her today at school either, he avoided her at every chance he got.

Her thoughts were shattered when the pot started bowling; she added her ingredient into the pot and begins mixing. It was dinner for two again tonight; as much as she didn't want to cook for him, she had no other choice. Gabriella's job was to take care of Troy for another two days, which meant she had to feed him and make sure he did his homework. She felt more like his mom than anything. Gabriella watched the ingredients mix with each other and formed a pretty light red color.

The front door opened and in stormed in Troy Bolton, his head was done and he stormed up the stairs quickly.

"Well he's a bit over dramatic," Gabriella said. She assumed he was still probably angry with her and didn't want to see her face. Soon dinner was finished and Gabriella set the table for the two of them. "Dinner's ready!" she yelled out. Gabriella sat down and waited five minutes for Troy to come down; he did not. "Ugh," she sighed. Quickly, she went up the stairs and knocked on his door. No response. "Troy?" Gabriella asked. She waited; no response. Gabriella turned the knob and saw Troy on the balcony. Gabriella raised her eyebrow and wondered what Troy was doing out there. No one ever used the balcony up there because for one it was unstable. "Troy?"

Troy slightly turned his head, but turned it back to stare out at the cloudy sky.

Gabriella was surprised that he didn't tell her to go away or to leave him alone. Gabriella took that and took a step out onto the balcony carefully. It was dangerous to be on the balcony, but that didn't seem to bother Troy one bit. "What's up?" she asked.

Troy didn't say anything; all he gave her was a simple head shake. Troy didn't have the energy to yell at her.

Gabriella couldn't believe she was going to talk to him like this, "what's wrong?" Gabriella softly asked him.

Troy hesitated to talk but he opened his mouth, "I fucking hate the assistant coach, he thinks that since my dad's not here he can do whatever he want. Usually I'd run practice and my dad was sit back in watch but the dude thought he can run shit around and we got into this huge argument and he told me if I don't shut my trap then he's going to bench me and he'll make dam sure of it. I was benched the rest of practice," Troy yelled. He looked at Gabriella, "you don't understand how angry I am, it just made my day even worse," he sighed.

"I'm sorry," Gabriella said to him, "there's no way he can bench you. Your dad will not approve of that." She tried to make the situation better if it was possible.

"You don't understand," he snapped. "My dad won't be there, he'll be away still," Troy shook his head.

Gabriella shook her head at his negativity. "It won't be like that, if he knows what's good for the team." Gabriella said.

"Whatever, I'm going to go take a shower," Troy said and walked back inside.

Gabriella watched him go back inside and she went in after him, "Well if you're hungry, dinners downstairs," she softly said and went downstairs. That went better than she expected, she didn't expect him to tell her his problem and she didn't expect to be so nice about it. When she reached the kitchen, she sat at the table wondering if Troy would come down for dinner or if he was too upset to come down. If he didn't come down in fifteen minutes she would eat without him. Ten minutes had passed and Troy came downstairs in his PJs and his hair damped. Gabriella served them food and the two of them ate in silence. For the first time neither of them knew what to argue about.

"So uh, when's your next volleyball game?" he asked.

"Two days," Gabriella answered him. "We've played this team before and we beat them easily but who knows if they got better," Gabriella added.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, you guys will win," Troy said.

"Oh so you think we're good now?" Gabriella jokingly teased and that broke a smile from the both of them. The smile quickly vanished when they noticed they were both smiling and both went back to eating.

"When do you play?" she asked.

"Tomorrow night," Troy told her. "And I know we're good," Troy said with his cocky tone and then he finished up. "We're going to win, there is no team good enough to beat us," he added.

Gabriella laughed, "Wow cocky much?"

"That's Troy Bolton for you," Troy grinned and finished up his drink.

Gabriella groaned when she finished, "dishes, my favorite," she said sarcastically and stood up but Troy stopped her.

"I'll do it, since you cooked and all," he said and took the dishes from her hand and went to the sink. Gabriella was surprise that he'd volunteer to do it but she didn't complain. Gabriella started for the stairs and looked back at Troy once.

"Gabriella?"

Gabriella turned around and looked at him.

"Goodnight," he said and smiled.

"Good night," Gabriella smiled once at him and walked up to her room. Dinner went completely smooth and he didn't bring up the girlfriend issue once. Tonight, she knew she was going to bed with a smile on her face because of Troy Bolton.

* * *

**REVIEW PLEASE! That's another step up. (:**


	10. Atonement

**A/N: I was sitting in class today, and I had the urge to update for some reason so I came home and posted this chapter. Enjoy (:****  
**

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN:** Atonement  
(uh·tohn·muhnt)_n._  
1. satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.

The birds on the opposite side of the window began chirping and caused Gabriella to wake up suddenly. "Damn you birds." She quickly glanced at the neon red numbers on her alarm clock and almost at instance, she rushed out of bed. "Shit!" She was late- very late. She got dressed quickly, not caring how she how she looked today, there was no one to impress anyway. Gabriella started for Troy's room assuming that he was still asleep. His bedroom door was wide open and Troy wasn't even in bed. She assumed he left already and didn't even bother waking her up. Last night was a good night for her, she and Troy actually got along, no violence or bad words came out either of their mouths- well about each other. Quickly she ran downstairs and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she almost fell backwards. Troy sat there at the dining table with two plates full of breakfast food and a foolish grin on his face.

"Finally!" Troy exclaimed and pushed one of the plates gently, offering her a plate of breakfast.

"We're going to be late for school, your playoff game is tonight and you have to be at school," Gabriella explained to him.

Troy rolled his eyes and took a big bite out of his dinner. His favorite- toast with syrup and sausage links. His mom would wake up really early to make him his favorite breakfast which also included scrambled eggs with a little pepper. "Why does it matter, I'm not even playing. Coach has me sitting bench," Troy mumbled.

"You don't know that." Gabriella felt sorry for him because she knew that this game meant a lot to him. It was the time where scouts came to watch for the best players so they could offer him scholarships. Going to college wasn't a big deal to Troy, but playing basketball for a college was a big deal. Basketball was his number one priority no matter what. He'll miss anything for basketball; he was skilled enough to play anyone. That was the best part about having good genes.

Troy glanced up at her and Gabriella knew that he was giving her the '_what the hell are you thinking_' look. "Well I'm pretty sure," he coldly said. Troy grabbed his backpack off the couch and got up. "Whatever I'm out, let's just go."

So much for a pleasant breakfast. In a quick second, Troy was already out the door. Gabriella sighed and walked out after him. Troy angered her sometimes; more like all the time. She got the keys off the table and started the car. Neither of them spoke a word while they both buckled themselves up. As she backed out of the driveway, she couldn't help but think about her mom. She couldn't wait for her mom to come home. It was only two days away until Troy's parents and her mom will be home. It was about time; she was going nuts with Troy living in the house. She was glad her mom would be back for her birthday this Friday; her mom never missed her birthday. Gabriella's thoughts were shattered with Troy's voice.

"Why are you being all pissy?" he asked her suddenly. "Can't you ever act like a normal girl sometimes?"

"Me?! Are you serious? More like you!" Gabriella wanted to say that, but she didn't and she kept her cool and clenched her teeth together. "Just shut up," she said quietly under her breath.

Troy rolled his eyes; he heard it and he knew she made sure he heard it. "I'm glad my parents are coming home soon, I'm getting sick of-"

"Troy, has it ever occurred to you that I'm trying to be a nice girl here? I hate your guts, but I'm trying to be a nice person," Gabriella snapped. She didn't mean to snap, but Troy pushed her over the line and she had to say it.

Troy opened his mouth to say something, but he had nothing to say.

Gabriella pulled into the student parking lot at East high and parked at her usual spot that wasn't too far or too close to the school. Next to her was Sharpay's pink convertible and on the other side was Taylor's station wagon. Gabriella got her backpack from the backseat and grabbed her duffle bag full of her volleyball stuff. Troy got his things together and the two of them got out of the car at the same time. Troy took off walking first and Gabriella wasn't a little far behind him. People would glance their way wondering if they were dating. Gabriella knew that it was what the freshmen wanted to know. Freshmen…they made her laugh. Like usual, Gabriella and Troy parted ways and Troy went to his basketball group. Gabriella made her way to her locker because that was where she usually met up with Taylor and Sharpay. This time, her route was different though. Cohen stopped her in the hallway and pulled her by the waist to the side. Gabriella was surprised he was even talking to her; she glanced up at him and crossed her arm over her chest. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Well, yeah- but I'm willing to forgive you if you want to apologize," Cohen added. "I think I deserve an apology from you."

"An apology? Are you kidding me?" Gabriella asked out loud before she could stop herself from saying it. Oh well, a little too late.

Cohen raised his eyebrow and looked at her slyly. "Well, I do think that it was shady of you to call me and have Troy come to pick you up instead." He glanced at her for a confirmation, but she stood there in silence. "Do you like him or something?" he accused almost too quickly.

Gabriella's eyes went wide, "What?!" She couldn't believe he'd ask her that. "Cohen, you know how much I hate him, I don't know why you'd think that!"

Cohen rolled his eyes and connected with her eyes. "You don't have to lie to me Gabriella."

"Cohen, listen to me. I like you a lot, but you're being so weird about all of this. I've told you one time too many that I will never like that jerk, he means nothing to me," Gabriella said.

"Look-," Cohen started. Gabriella knew instinctively where this was going. Gabriella held her break, hoping she was mis-thinking something. "I'm breaking up with you."

Instead of sadness in her eyes, it was more anger. "You're breaking up with me? Seriously? Well technically we were never together." No one broke up with Gabriella. Gabriella was usually the dumper, not the dumpee.

Cohen shrugged his shoulders and added, "See, so it's not that bad. Besides, you don't need me- and I surely don't need you, I have other girls." With that, Cohen walked off to another group of people.

Gabriella couldn't believe how much of an asshole he was; she thought he was the most decent guy at the school. Boy was she wrong. Gabriella stood in the middle of the hallway and glanced around her. No one was watching their breakup…good. Right as she was walking off, she felt a pair of hands around her shoulder. Thinking it was Cohen; she looked up and saw Troy. She was too stunned to do anything.

"Aw, your little boy toy broke up with you because of me? How thoughtful of him," he smirked. "Hate to say it, but I told you so," the mischievous look on Troy's face. He enjoyed this moment very much, more than she hated it.

I told you so. She hated those words. Gabriella brushed his arm off her shoulder and walked off, "get away from me," she coldly said and met up with her friends. How did she think for one second that a new reign came over Troy? She wished Troy never had to stay at her house, she and Cohen would still be together and her life would be simple, but no her parent and Troy's had to go off to vacation, leaving her with the devil.

* * *

"So Gabriella what are you going to do for your birthday this Friday?" The girls were walking down the hallway to their next class after Home room. The best thing about homeroom was that she sat in the back so no one could see the anger in her face. Troy didn't even look at back at her once and she was glad. The bad news was she had chemistry with him next; joy.

"I don't know, I want to have a party…but I doubt my mom will let me," Gabriella sighed. Her mom was against parties because she thought they were dangerous which they were.

Taylor smiled widely, "oh your mom will let you have a party, if not you're going to have one anyway, eighteen is an important number," she said.

Sharpay stopped at her locker and looked at Gabriella, "gosh you're so old!" she joked.

Gabriella laughed, "Shut up, I don't even feel that much older," she said. "I started school late okay?"

The three girls laughed and then parted their ways when the first bell for passing period rang. Gabriella was one of the last few to be in the classroom so there were limited seats. Luckily for her, there was an empty lab station in the back. As soon as Troy and some chick that Gabriella never heard of walked in and she noticed that there were two open seats at labs. One was next to her, while the other one was some kid on the football team. "Hey girl! Come sit with me!" she said quickly. She did not want to sit next to Troy.

Gabriella spoke to soon. The girl sat with the football player and she was stuck with Troy. "Damn it," she muttered and turned away from him when he sat.

"Quit your whining, it's only for an hour," Troy told her and opened up his chemistry book. "Just because little Cohen broke up with you doesn't mean you gotta be a bitch you know."

Gabriella didn't respond, it was the smartest move she's made.

Troy laughed, "Now you're ignoring me? Typical you, this is why I don't like you…well and the fact that I can't stand you," Troy added.

Gabriella couldn't stand it anymore, "just because you can't play basketball and listen to the coach that caused you to be benched tonight doesn't mean you have to take it out on me!" she shouted and half of the classroom stopped talking. Now this was the dumbest move she's made. Drama, how everyone loved it.

Troy couldn't believe she'd say that and blurt it to half of the class. He knew talking to her last night would be a mistake because he couldn't trust a girl like her. What was he thinking? "Fuck you," Troy said and got up from the lab table and left the classroom. The teacher didn't even bother stopping him. He continued on with his lessons for another ten minutes and then turned to Gabriella.

"Montez, principal's office. Now," the teacher said. There were a bunch of "Ooos" sounds in the classroom and Gabriella gathered her things. As she left the classroom, she started for the office and passed the open and empty gym except for one player. Troy.

Gabriella went into the gym and leaned against one of the bleachers that were up.

Troy lifted his hands with the ball at his finger tips and went in a shooting position. As he was about to shoot, he turned and saw Gabriella. He shot the ball, watching it go up and straight through the hoop. Nothing but net. Swish. "What the hell do you want?" Troy put his arm out and then slapped them down at his side.

"Troy, look I'm sorry I didn't mean to tell the whole class, but they were bound to find out later," Gabriella explained.

Troy shook his head, "your apologies don't mean shit to me," he spitted out and sat down on the bleachers that were open on the other side.

Gabriella couldn't believe she was doing this. She took a seat next to him; more like somewhat near him and placed her stuff on the bleachers. "You just pissed me off so bad! I didn't do shit and you have to bug me about Cohen. I get it Troy, you were right and I was wrong okay?! Are you happy?!" Gabriella exclaimed, feeling her own voice rising.

"I was joking around okay?" Troy asked.

"No Troy, not okay. The only guy that I like doesn't like me anymore because of you, why'd you have to do that?" Gabriella asked.

Troy spun the ball around his finger and turned his head only slightly. "I didn't do anything, and Gabi, he's not the only guy for you. Stop thinking that, as I see it; he's nothing, you can do so much better than that fag."

She couldn't believe those words would come out of Troy's mouth. Not the bad words, but the part where he said she can do much better. "Just tell me why you hate me so much to piss me off like that?" she asked.

"Because you made my life miserable-"

"As you did to me!" she quickly defended herself. "I don't know why I even bother being nice to you, we've hated each other since he could even crawl and why did I think it was going to change now because you made me breakfast."

"I was being a nice guest, regardless who the host is," he bitterly said. Troy hated when Gabriella would talk to him like this, though it was never brought up but something just struck him.

Gabriella changed the subject, "look Troy, just tell Coach that he can't do that- he's the assistance coach and he knows he'll need you. Apologize if you have to!"

The gym was silent all of a sudden and neither of them spoke. There weren't any movements in the hallway and the gym's vent started acting up.

Troy leaned back on the bleachers and set the ball down on his side. "Look just go to class and leave me alone," Troy said and got up with his things and walked away.

Gabriella sighed. "I can't go back to class; I'm going to the office because of you." He didn't hear that, he already exited the gym.

* * *

School finally ended and it was game time. Troy's basketball team was playing Shoreline High School, a decent team with a good leading scorer. Troy had no problem with him though, but Troy wasn't playing tonight.

"What do you think you're doing?" Assistant Coach Greg asked Troy. Troy looked up from where he was sitting after tying his Jordan shoes together. The red and white shoes stood up from the rest of his Wildcat uniform.

Troy shrugged his shoulders and bent back down to fix his socks and ankle brace, "I'm dressing down like the rest of my team," he said.

Greg sat next to Troy, "don't you think it'll be better if you stayed in your other clothes so they'll know you're not playing?" Greg asked.

Troy took a deep breath, telling himself not to get angry. He tried calling his dad earlier to tell him about what happen and see if he can talk to Greg, but he didn't get an answer. "Well I'd still like to dress down," Troy simply said. Then Gabriella popped into his head for some reason, _just apologize! _He remembered those words she said. "Look I'm sorry for acting up, I'm just not use to not running practice and I got carried away I didn't mean to disrespect you like that, I swear."

"Well that's a bit too late now isn't it? C'mon, the team is waiting for us."

Troy put on his warm up jacket and walked out of the gym to hear a bunch of screaming fans and the band playing their fight song. Troy hit the "play like a champ, win like a champ" banner and ran out to where everyone else was huddling.

"Hoops!" Chad called him over and they huddled together.

"Alright now, I'm not playing tonight for some reason, so I want you to fight your hardest. I'll be back next game, I promise you that. Chad will be the leader of the court so look for him. This team ain't got anything on you. Wildcats on three. One, two, three, Wildcats!"

Troy gave his usual huddle speech and everyone but him and the towel boy ran to the court to warm up. Troy glanced out in the view and noticed Gabriella in the student section with the girls. Gabriella was wearing her practice clothes from volleyball and her hair was tied up in a messy bun. Troy noticed the lighting of the gym made her skin was almost luminescent. She looked pretty when she was tired. "What am I thinking?" He turned away quickly and clapped for his team- pushing the thought of Gabriella out of his head.

Gabriella clapped her hands together and anticipated for the game to start. She noticed Troy on the side line, not with the team and she frowned upon that. An idea just popped into her head and she told the girls her plan and the people around her. "Alright ready?" she hopped this would work. Soon Gabriella chanted 'let Troy play'.

It took a moment for Troy to interpret what Gabriella was saying and then he realized that half of the gym joined her on the chant. When the coach didn't do anything, everyone began to boo him really loudly and finally the coach couldn't take it anymore.

"Bolton, get out there and practice with the rest of the team," he said over the loud boo noises. Troy took off his warm up jacket and pants and ran out to the court. He couldn't believe that worked.

"Oh my god it worked!" Gabriella exclaimed and cheered with the rest when they saw him run onto the court.

Troy got the ball and went up for a dunk that was amazing and everyone clapped and cheered. While running back to the line, Troy looked up at Gabriella. At that moment, he gave her the smile that no one expected from him; especially her.

* * *

**Lala, expect some good moments next chapter (: I have this greattttt idea that I'm excited to write and I'm preparing for my next story which will come after I finish this one and the other one I have up already. REVIEW PLEASE!**


	11. Inclination

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:** inclination  
(in·kluh·ney·shuhn)_n_.  
1. A strong fondness; affection.

Gabriella woke up to the sound of the phone ringing, "what the…" she groaned and picked up her cell phone on her table. "Hello?" she grumbled softly. Gabriella had no clue what time it was nor did she bother looking at the red numbers.

"Hi honey, it's mom."

Gabriella sighed and finally took a look at the clock. 4:30AM. It was way too early to get up for school; she needed her rest for her volleyball match today. "Hi mom, aren't you suppose to be on your flight home now?" she asked.

There was a silent tone on the other end for a minute. "Yeah we were supposed to be on one, but the flight got delayed due to some weather issue and we thought it over and 3 more days won't hurt right?" her mom asked. "I mean I know I'll miss your birthday, but I promise the minute I get back we'll go do something."

Some mom she was. Gabriella didn't say anything. "Whatever, it's fine. Bye." At this moment she didn't really care what her mom said, she was so tired she wasn't even sure she heard her mom right. Gabriella threw the phone back on the table and closed her eyes, drifting off to the same sleep. If Gabriella heard her right, she felt disappointed that her mom was missing her birthday. She never missed Gabriella's birthday, ever. To make matters worse, Gabriella and Troy had to stay together longer and she knew he didn't want that. Though, last night they got along quite well because of what Gabriella had done. The Wildcats won 55-43 and Troy led the scoring with 22 points and 14 assists. Gabriella could tell last night that the coach knew he had a good decision to let Troy play because when Troy was resting for half a quarter, they slipped back. After the game, Troy thanked Gabriella on his way to the locker room and Gabriella gave him an assuring smile. Neither of them really spoke to each other when they got home though, Gabriella was exhausted and showered before going off to bed. Troy hung out with the team after the game and then came in late last night.

"YO. Wake up."

The sound of Troy's voice stirred her awake and she came face to face with a clean and neat face. His face was close to her so he could see every detail on his face. She groaned and took her hand and shoved his face away from her. "I'm tired," she grumbled and closed her eyes again.

"Well that's too bad, you have your playoff game today so you better get up and get going lady," Troy spoke and then opened the curtains of her back door. The sun shined straight through to Gabriella and he smirked. Troy slowly walked out of the room and blasted his music loudly.

"I hate him," she mumbled and threw the pillow at her door. Gabriella got up and checked her phone and noticed that her mom did call her last night and she knew what her mom called for. She sighed and went up to Troy's room. She knocked on his door and waited for him to open it. There was no way she was walking in and he'd be half naked.

"What?" he asked.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him, "did your mom call you last night?" she asked.

Troy opened his phone and noticed he had 3 miss calls. "Probably," he said. "Why?"

Gabriella bit her lip, wondering if she should tell him. There was a fear in her that Troy would flip out and lash out at her. "Well, our parents aren't coming back till Sunday night," she told him. It was Thursday today and they had another 3 days together.

Troy blinked. "Seriously?" he asked.

Gabriella nodded. "Well their plane was delayed and they agreed they'll stay till the next flight," she spoke softly. "I was just letting you know." Gabriella left his room and went to get ready for school.

Troy sat back on his bed and lowered the music. Why would his mom do that to him? He wanted to go home so he could finally sleep in his own bed. "Great." It was awkward for him when he stayed here because he and Gabriella never got along ever. One or the other would piss the other one off which caused them to fight. Troy sighed, "There's nothing I can do about it now." He spoke to no one in particular and finally got ready for school. Why would his mom torture him like that? He knew his mom knew how much he wanted to be back at his own house. Troy finished getting ready and went downstairs to put a breakfast together for himself. He was too pissed off to cook her some too. Troy sat at the breakfast table and ate in peace…until she walked down the stairs.

Gabriella stood there all ready for school when she noticed there wasn't any food for her on the table. She didn't mind, but lately Troy cooked her food. Gabriella stared him down for a minute and then went over to the fridge to get her something to eat. There weren't any noise coming from either of them as they ate breakfast at the table together. Gabriella ate cereal for breakfast since she didn't have time to cook something up. "You ready to go?" she simply asked him.

Troy got up from his spot and dumped his stuff into the sink. The sink was piling up, neither of them wanted to do the dishes. He got his backpack and went to her car without a single word. It was a normal routine they had.

Gabriella got into the driver side and buckled herself. She turned to Troy. Right now she really wanted to say something mean, but she kept it to herself. "Are you okay?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I'm fine," he muttered.

"You're mad that you're mom isn't coming home huh?" she asked.

"Look, let's just go to school. There's nothing I can do about my mom, so whatever," Troy said and buckled himself up.

Gabriella gazed at him and then turned forward. Troy had mood swings; he was like bipolar or something because he was giving her attitude. Gabriella drove to school faster than usual, there was tension in the car and she knew he felt it too. Like usual, Gabriella parked in her normal spot and the two of them left the car at the same time. This time Troy stormed off quickly, leaving her back at her car. "Asshole." Luckily for her by the time she got to the school doors she was greeted by her best friends Taylor and Sharpay. "Hey," she said with a smile.

"Do you realize what's coming up?" Taylor asked.

How could Gabriella forget? It was her birthday, her eighteenth birthday that her mom was going to be missing. "Yes I do realize," she simply responded.

"It's going to be so crazy and fun," Sharpay added and walked with them to their lockers. Their lockers were lined up next to each other; it's been like that since their freshman year. The three girls entered their combinations together and their lockers smoothly opened.

"Did you invite Troy?" Sharpay asked with a curious tone to her voice.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "well, he does live with me so it would make sense if he came," Gabriella added.

"Oh you two need to go out already!" Taylor exclaimed.

Gabriella shook her head to that idea. She and Troy together was like being brothers and sisters. It was gross. "Me and Troy will _never_ happen, I'd rather date a dog than date him."

"Ouch Gabriella, that's a bit harsh," the deep voice from behind spoke up. Gabriella knew who it was the moment the words came out of his mouth.

Gabriella smirked, "what do you want Bolton?" she asked coldly.

"Well considering they are my friends too, I'd like to talk to them," he shot back.

Gabriella shook her head and closed her locker. "Look I don't need your bitchy little attitude, so I'm going to class. I'll see you girls later," she said and walked off.

Troy watched her walk off and looked at Sharpay and Taylor who were glaring and shaking their heads at him. "What?" he found it almost amusing that her friends would always take her side. "Not my fault she's a bitch all the time," Troy spoke.

"This little hate rivalry you guys got going needs to stop. You're eighteen, she's turning eighteen soon. Don't you think you're a little too old for these games?" Taylor asked. Taylor always knew how to get into Troy's head. It was like taking candy from a baby.

Troy acted like he was busy getting his books from his locker. "she's the one who-" he started to get defensive.

"Look." Taylor's voice was sharp and it took both Sharpay and Troy by surprise. "I don't care whose fault it is or who started what. You're both being immature about this and I bet if Chad were here he'd say the same thing. Her birthday is tomorrow, and you need to be nice okay?"

Troy shrugged. "Whatever," he grumbled.

Taylor stormed off to find her best friend and Sharpay stayed for a minute with Troy. "Look, maybe you should try to work things out with her. Act if you have to but don't leave you two in the dust. You're going to remember this day when you graduate and you'll realize that you should've fixed things."

All of this is coming from Sharpay?

Troy didn't bother looking at Sharpay. He heard her heels click away and he knew she left. Troy glanced as she walked away and now he had an idea what to do. All he hoped for is that whatever Sharpay was getting at would be right.

* * *

"Game 2 goes to the Vikings. The wildcats are down 2 games to nothing; can the defending champion bring it back?" The announcer's voice echoed throughout the packed gym on a Thursday night. Gabriella wasn't on her game tonight; she only had eight kills, 2 aces, and she had 5 errors. That wasn't normal for her; she's never gotten so little kills and so many errors before.

The coach threw the clipboard onto the ground. "Alright listen here, you're down 2 sets to none, one more game and they take it all. I know all of you," the coach's eyes were mainly on Gabriella, "I know all of you can put more effort and win this, after this game, we're in the finals. You ladies deserve to be in that final, they are not better than you," the coach went on with a speech and then the buzzer noise sounded.

Gabriella walked out into the court and went to the front where her beginning position was. She fixed her knee pad and spandex before touching the number fourteen on her jersey. Gabriella finally gazed out into the crowd and saw so many people there; including scouts. Gabriella looked over at the student section and noticed Troy standing there with Chad and the other basketball players. Her attention focused in on him, he was the only one who stood out to her.

"You can do it Gabi."

She knew she read his lips right, she just had to. Gabriella nodded at him and then got into her position.

"Hannah Lee serves…it's a bullet serve but it's no problem for Krystal the liberal…she hits it over to Jessica who delivers a nice set to Gabriella...."

Gabriella focused her mind on the ball and up she jumped with a perfect take off. One quick motion hit and the ball went slamming to the gym floor. Point, Wildcats. The gym erupted with a cheer and Gabriella huddled with her team. 24 more points to go.

The match went close the whole time that Gabriella was in. They managed to take the 1st set 25-21. Ten kills from Gabriella in that round. After spiking the game point, she looked up and noticed that the guys were cheering. Gabriella smiled at them and then went back to the coach after that round was done.

"Amazing round ladies. Alright let's keep the momentum up and win the second set."

Gabriella went back out into the gym floor and glanced quickly back up at her friends. This time she noticed another person added. Krissy. Gabriella watched as she tried to hug Troy again and Troy was hugging her back. She felt something go through her body. Was she jealous? "No there's no time for jealousy Gabi," she told herself and then played the game with a higher intensity. Krissy got to her head and she was going to win this game. The second game went 25-12. Gabriella had 15 kills.

"Gabriella calm down," Jessica spoke after that round. "I know you really want this, but it looks like you're about to rip some girl's head off," Jessica walked with Gabriella back to the coach and then after a short break they all went out again.

Gabriella knew she couldn't let Troy and Krissy get to his head. If they wanted to get together again, fine. She was going to deal with it because she hated him. It was that simple. Why couldn't she get his face out of her mind? Gabriella shook her head and started the game. This was it, it was a tie breaker and also for the win.

She wasn't going to lose. She couldn't lose because of Troy or Krissy. This was way more important than them, she just couldn't lose. Why would he take her back after she broke up with him? Why would she want him back? Of course, it was Troy Bolton. All the girls wanted him. Gabriella got another set to her and she spiked it harder than before, she felt a wetness coming to her face. _It's just sweat Gabriella_. As Gabriella landed on her feet, she wiped her face and noticed it from her eyes. _Oh my god, I can't like him_.

Finally it was game point for the wildcats. The moment that everyone was waiting for. The whole gym became quiet and the only noise was from Gabriella who was serving. Bounce. Bounce. She threw it up in the air…wham. A nice serve soared over the net and no one could get to it. Ace. Point. The gym erupted with cheers and the team surrounded Gabriella.

"What an amazing win by the wildcats! They came back from 2 sets to nothing to take it home! They're going to the finals!"

Gabriella pushed Troy out of her mind at this point. Students in the gym started to come down and crowd around the team after the two teams shook hands. Gabriella noticed Troy though, he wasn't with Krissy, and he was with Chad. A big relief ran through her body and now she knew she could enjoy the rest of the night.

* * *

Friday. It was finally her birthday and her mom wasn't there. Today Gabriella skipped school she had too much to plan to go to school. Gabriella was a smart girl anyway and she knew she could catch up in class whenever she wanted to. After her volleyball match yesterday, she didn't speak to Troy since he stayed the night at Chad's all day. The time almost hit 8 PM when Gabriella was getting ready for her birthday party tonight. She sat in her room with Sharpay and Taylor who were also getting ready. Gabriella was curling her hair while the other girls were doing their hair. After perfecting her hair, she started on her make-up. She was excited for the party tonight because for one she never had a party like this before and two; she was turning eighteen. Only the three of them were here right now, Troy went to Chad's house to do something and people were going to arrive soon. Gabriella then got into her outfit that she had planned and at 8:30, she was done. "How do I look?" she spun around for her two best friends who had a look like they approved.

"So pretty!" Taylor exclaimed and hugged her best friend. "Here I want to give you my gift before anyone else comes," she told Gabriella and gave her a wrapped box.

Sharpay got up and got her gift out of her purse, "me too! In case you get drunk or something I want you to remember," she laughs.

Gabriella opened Taylor's gift first and it was a pair of earrings that she's been wanting since the beginning on the year. "Oh my gosh Tay! Thank you so much, I love it." She hugged her best friend and then took the other gift. "You guys are too nice, I wasn't expecting anything," she laughed. "It's around the age where I just don't expect gifts anymore." Gabriella unwrapped Sharpay's gift and she got a juicy couture jacket that she saw at the mall. "Sharpay!" she hugged Sharpay and smiled. "I love this too, thank you so much. Both of you." Gabriella placed her present in the closet and right on time; the bell rung.

"Party time!" they all exclaimed and quickly went downstairs. Sharpay got all the stuff together and Taylor turned on the music while Gabriella got the door. A couple girls on her volleyball team arrived with presents in their hands. She took it from them and placed them safely in one of the closets. "Thank you all for coming," she said to them and explained where everything was. As she was about to close the door, guys from the football and soccer team walked through. She didn't remember inviting them, but she couldn't kick them out now. They even gave her presents. "Thanks," she said to them and explained where things were. The moment Gabriella turned back to the door, more people came. Cheerleaders, athletes, kids from her class, and some kids from the lacrosse team all came at the same time. She wondered if Cohen would come; she didn't invite him but she wouldn't be surprised if he showed up. Finally the basketball team showed up. Chad and Troy were the last ones to walk in and Chad gave her a present. "Hey guys," she said to them and hugged Chad. "Troy." She nodded at him and then closed the door behind them. "Apparently everyone is here," she laughed and walked with them to the party area.

Troy walked into the kitchen where he saw different kinds of cliques. He scoffed and got himself something to drink. He was home already so he could get as drunk as he want because he slept upstairs. Troy stood on the balcony with Chad, Zeke, and some cheerleaders who were talking about the game. He glanced into the room and saw Gabriella standing with her friends. Man, she looked beautiful tonight. The same moment, Gabriella met eyes with Troy and both of them looked away quickly and Troy went back to the conversation.

Gabriella noticed that he was looking at her and she felt herself blushing for some odd reason. She pushed the thought out of her mind and remembered to mingle with her other guests. Gabriella saw Sharpay and Taylor arguing about who was hotter for being old; Paul Walker or Brad Pitt. Gabriella laughed at her best friends and started for the cheerleader girls. Troy was out there and she knew that either he could get mad at her for hanging out his friends; but this was her party and she was allowed to talk to whoever she wanted. Tonight she wasn't looking for a fight though, it was her birthday and no one was going to ruin it.

She could hear people coming in from the front door and she assumed it was a couple other friends. It wouldn't surprise her if half of the school came because the word probably spread and Gabriella was known around school. People liked her as a person and maybe that's why they brought gifts.

She felt a hand around her waist and instantly she turned around as a reaction. It was Cohen. "Cohen?" she asked.

"Hey Gabs," he splurred. He was drunk. Gabriella could smell the alcohol in his breath and his eyes were all weird.

"What do you want Cohen?" she asked impatiently. She had guests to entertain and she didn't want to deal with Cohen.

Cohen now had his other hand on the other side of her waist. "I miss you," he said to her and tried kissing her ear but she moved away from him. "Come on, I know you miss me too," he said to her.

Gabriella broke free from his grip and crossed her arm. "I think you should go," she said firmly.

Cohen laughed and shook his head, "baby, I'm not leaving because I think I should be here, now come here and kiss me," he opened his arm wide for her but she whacked it away.

"Please go."

Cohen smiled at her. There was no way he was taking her seriously.

"The girl asked you to go man," a voice from behind Gabriella spoke. Gabriella turned around and saw Troy coming with Chad.

Cohen looked up at Troy and laughed at his voice. "What the hell do you want?" Cohen spat.

Troy smirked, "get the fuck out, she asked you to leave now go or I'll make you leave," Troy threatened.

"You can't threaten me, I'm not scared of a shitty person like you," Cohen didn't even bother moving and Gabriella knew it was time to get out of the way.

"Cohen just leave before you get hurt," Gabriella pushed him away gently, but there wasn't any movement from Cohen.

Troy narrowed his eyes at him. One more push, Troy would hit him.

"So I heard Marissa broke up with you? Oh that's right; she broke up with you for me. I think when I told her about you and Krissy, she came to my open arms. I was with her that night," Cohen taunted, all the alcohol in him was talking.

Troy rolled up his sleeve of his buttoned up shirt and looked back at Chad who didn't even bother stopping it. All this time he blamed Gabriella for doing it, it was Cohen who did it all along. He should have known; the one person who hated him the most besides Gabriella had to have something to do with it. Troy looked at Gabriella and could tell she was on the verge of tears and didn't want a fight. He looked at Cohen and then back at Gabriella before shaking his head. "Fuck it," he said and then looked at Chad. Both of the two guys; instead of punching him they picked him up. Two guys were stronger than one. They threw him out of the house and closed the door. "Stay the fuck out."

Troy looked back at Gabriella who was staring, "At least you can say thanks," Troy scoffed.

Gabriella shook her head at him and walked away to enjoy what was left of her party. Gabriella knew she had to drink something tonight, it was starting to get out of hand and she needed to have some fun. She was tired of stopping everyone from doing something wrong and she knew she'd regret having this party in the morning.

Troy and Gabriella didn't run into each other for the rest of the party. Troy stayed at where he was the whole time with his friends and teammates. He didn't even bother looking around for Gabriella, in fact he was pissed that she'd be mad at him for a nice thing he did. Around one am, people started leaving. Guys were leaving with girls and some people were too drunk to leave, but their friend would pick them up and take them. Troy looked around the house; it was a mess. The last people to leave were Zeke, Chad, Sharpay, and Taylor. "It's fine guys, I'll clean up around here or call someone to do it," Troy said to them.

"Where's Gabriella I want to say happy birthday before I leave," Zeke said.

They all shrugged, "she probably fell asleep in her room," Sharpay said. "I'll just call her tomorrow." The group left and Troy sighed wondering how he was going to clean up this place. It was Gabriella's house anyway; he didn't need to clean anything. Troy went upstairs and saw the bedroom light on in her room. "Hm, I wonder why she didn't say goodbye to her guests." Troy went into his room and grabbed out his present. He went back downstairs to Gabriella's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Gabriella called out. She assumed it was Sharpay or Taylor. Gabriella spent the time in her room opening presents from all of her guests. She got clothes, gift cards, money, and volleyball stuff.

Troy opened the door and walked in.

"Oh it's you. What do you want?" she asked rudely.

Troy narrowed his eyes, "You know what? I got a present for you," he tossed it on the bed and mumbled something under his breath before leaving her room.

Gabriella watched him leave and then looked at the box on the bed. Gabriella was surprise he'd get her a present. He was the last person she'd expect to get him a gift. Gabriella waited a few minutes and then ripped off the wrapper. She then opened the box and she was shocked. Gabriella took out the item and instantly she felt mixed emotions run though her.

It was the furby. It as the exact same furby; well the look, but it was brand new. It was that exact furby that Troy broke when they were younger. It was the furby that Troy broke that made her hate him forever. She didn't care if she was too old for it; it was a furby. The furby. Gabriella threw the box on the floor gently and noticed something else that fell out. It was a smaller box. Gabriella took the box and opened the box that revealed a beautiful necklace. It was amazing and she loved it. Gabriella got off her bed and went to Troy's room. She knocked on the door waiting for his response.

Troy opened the door and he was shocked that Gabriella hugged him. Her arm wrapped around his neck when she leaned forward to hug him.

"Thank you," she said softly. "It's the best present I've ever gotten." Gabriella forgot the hate she had for him, she felt something else. She wasn't sure what it was but it was something else. Gabriella realized that while she was hugging him, that their body fit together perfectly like it was meant to be.

* * *

**REVIEW PLEASE! I will no longer prolong Troyella as you guys don't want me to. Haha (:**


	12. Tantalize

**A/N: I'm so sorry it took me a while to update. Prom is coming up and it's been keeping me occupied, but I thought I could squeeze one in (:**

* * *

**CHAPTER TWELVE**: Tantalize  
**(tan**· tl· ahyz)v.  
1. To torment with, or as if with, the sight of something desired but out of reach.

The next morning, Troy woke up to the sound of the birds coming from the other side of the window. He rolled onto his stomach and instantly regretted it. He had a huge headache. "Damn." Troy sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. It was Saturday morning and way past noon, he knew that for sure. Getting out of bed, he grabbed the closes shirt to him and headed to the kitchen. On his way to the kitchen, he noticed Gabriella's bedroom door was open, but her room was empty. Maybe she went to cook breakfast. Last night was something that stayed on Troy's mind all the way till now. Gabriella had hugged him and he felt something rushing through his stomach, but he wasn't sure what. Troy galloped down the stairs and noticed that it was empty and cleaned at the same time. Did Gabriella clean this house by herself? "Gabi?" he called out. There was no reply. Troy yawned and knew that he had the house to himself. Finally.

Troy turned on the radio as he was preparing himself something to eat. Gabriella wasn't home so he could blast the music as much as he wanted to without her complaining. Oh how he loved being home alone. Troy still had Gabriella on his mind though; _where did she go?_ He wondered in his own mind.

As much as Gabriella drank last night, she felt fine and got up early the next morning. She had errands to do and she wanted to do it before Troy woke up. Last night, Gabriella remembered hugging Troy…and actually liking it. He did the sweetest thing ever and she felt that she needed to hug him for that. Everything was left up in the air after Gabriella left his room, neither of them spoke to each other after that. Gabriella now was nervous to go home and see him, she wasn't sure how he'd react or if he'd remember it at all.

She pulled into the driveway minutes later and grabbed the stuff she bought in the back of her car out. She slowly approached her door and opened it. Instantly she was greeted by rap music coming from the kitchen. Of course. Gabriella closed the door and walked into the kitchen where Troy was dancing and rapping. Gabriella smiled in amusement as she watched him.

Troy spun around as he was rapping and saw Gabriella. His face turned pink almost instantly when he saw her. He flipped off the music and smirked. "Gee, you could have let me know you were coming home," he said.

Gabriella laughed, "I was enjoying it," she teased and then placed the bag on the table.

"Where'd you go?" Troy questioned her. He noticed her bringing some bags home, but none of the bags were labeled. He stopped doing what he was doing and went to sit at the counter island seat.

Gabriella pulled up the bag to her and smirked a bit. "Nosy much?" she joked and then grabbed a box out of her bag that she brought home. "It was the least I could do since you did something for me," she said to him.

Troy retrieved the box from her hand and questioned it slightly. He didn't say anything and began to open the gift she brought him. "What is it?"

"Just open it."

Troy opened the box and there lied the game boy. Instantly, he remembered the incident between the two. The game boy was one of the main reasons why they hated each other in the first place. "Why'd you get me this?" he asked.

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders and smiled, "I really don't know, after last night- you getting me the furby and everything I felt like I owed you an apology for breaking your game boy so I got you a new one," she said. "I know you don't play it now, but I thought it would make up for something."

Troy stared at the game boy and said nothing. He wasn't sure what to say to her exactly, but he felt a happy feeling inside of him. "Thanks," he finally said. That word spread a smile across Gabriella's face and she knew that she did something good.

"Well I'm glad you like it," she said and grabbed her things together before heading up the staircases.

"Gabriella?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing today?" he asked.

Gabriella thought for a moment. _Uh oh, is he gonna ask me out?_ She knew instinctively what was coming. "Um…nothing?"

Troy wasn't sure what he was doing exactly; this wasn't how he usually reacted. He was mean. He was supposed to be mean to her. _Stop now, _he told himself. "Well I was wondering if you wanted to go take a stroll in the park or something...or go go-kart racing," he suggested.

Gabriella raised her eyebrow at Troy. What was this he was doing? "Sure, go-kart sounds like fun. But it'll have to be later; I have stuff I need to do first." What was _she_ doing? Gabriella gave him a half-hearted smile before going to her room.

"Okay cool," Troy smiled at her and turned back to cook his food. Now he had something to look forward to.

* * *

Around six PM, Gabriella came home from the mall with her best friends and she had to get ready for the day with Troy. Gabriella got into the shower after putting her stuff away in her room. So many questions were running through her head at the moment. "Why did I agree? Is he joking with me? Do I like him?" Gabriella shook the last question out of her head. "Never," she said out loud and clear. She let the hot water run on her for a couple more minutes before she got out of the shower. She could hear Troy's loud music blasting from downstairs and she rolled her eyes at it. She dried her hair and then tied it up in a messy bun. There was no way she had time to do something to it. Gabriella got dressed into something warm, but not too comfortable because it wasn't too cold outside or too hot. The main question that ran through Gabriella's head was what people were going to think of them together. People will assume they are dating or something. They were nothing more than...friends? Gabriella finished getting dressed for the date and went downstairs to see Troy ready to go. He was sitting on the couch listening to his music and then saw Gabriella.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"I am ready," she smirked at him and then the two got to Gabriella's car. "You drive," she tossed him the set of keys and then got into the passenger seat.

"Damn, so demanding," Troy joked and turned the ignition on. It took them ten minutes to get to the go-kart building and when they arrived they were one of the few people there. Troy walked a little bit ahead of her while Gabriella walked behind him texting on her phone. It was awkward and the both of them knew it. Troy wished Chad was with him right now, he'd make the situation less complicated but it was Saturday and people had other things to do.

Gabriella walked into the building first since Troy opened the door for her and she went to the counter. A boy around their age with brown shaggy hair stood behind the counter and smiled when he saw Gabriella.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

Gabriella smiled at him. He was friendly. "We're here to go-kart," she said.

"Well of course, why else would you be here?" he winked and then saw Troy and his smile dropped. "Is he with you?"

Gabriella turned and saw Troy narrowing his eyes at the guy behind the counter, "uh yeah he is?" She turned to Troy, "you know him?"

"How did Troy Bolton end up with a girl like her?" the boy spat.

Troy rolled his eyes and then walked next to Gabriella, "Brent, why don't you shut the hell up and do your damn job?"

Brent. Gabriella got that much out of this conversation. She wasn't sure what the beef between them was, but she just wanted to go-kart. "Excuse me if you two are done fighting, but I'm trying to go go-kart racing here so can I just pay and start?" Gabriella snapped.

Troy smirked at Gabriella and then looked at Brent before getting the stuff to go riding. Gabriella got into her kart without saying a single word to Troy the whole time.

"What's your deal?" Troy asked with a curious tone. He could sense her anger, but he wasn't sure why.

Gabriella snapped her helmet on and got into her kart and said nothing to Troy as she waited for the instructor to let them go.

"Fine whatever, be a bitch."

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at Troy and in no time they were taking off around the tracks. Gabriella got a good head start while Troy was close behind. He'd intentionally let her go ahead, but as they round to the last lap, Troy gassed up and cut in front of her. As he passed her, he smirked through his helmet and easily went through the finish line first.

"You got lucky," Gabriella said as she got out of her kart.

Troy laughed, "Whatever, just admit that you lost and I'm better," troy confidently said.

Gabriella rolled her eyes at Troy before leaving out the door first.

"What's your problem?"

Gabriella turned around quickly at him and folded her arms, "You make me so angry all the time! You always gotta get in my business and cause fights everywhere," Gabriella said. The more she thought about it the more she realized how stupid her point was.

Troy laughed and shook his head at her, "Are you kidding me right now?" he asked.

She shook her head and waited for him to continue.

"Whatever, let's just go eat."

Gabriella shook her head, "No I'm not going to go eat with you," she said snappily.

Troy grabbed her arm gently and dragged her to the concession stand where Brent was talking to some people. He ordered them two hot dogs and then sat at the bench. Gabriella said nothing to him and he wasn't sure why she was getting all moody with him. "Look I didn't plan this thing to have you be all rude so if you wanna leave then go, I'm sick of your attitude," he said quickly.

Gabriella frowned upon him and sighed, "I just wished you stop acting all big and bad when you're not and I want you to be nice for once," she said.

"Me? be nice to you? Sike."

"You were yesterday," she shot at him.

Troy narrowed his eyes at her, "hey now, that's a cheap shot," he said quickly.

Gabriella smirked a bit when he said that, "yes I know, but hey I gotta let you know the truth okay?"

Troy didn't say anything and ate his hot dog in peace, he gave her hers and then ate his hot dog without saying another word.

"Hey, lighten up Troy. What you did for me was…nice and much unexpected. It meant a lot to me," she added. "Just to let you know that it was the best present I've ever gotten."

The two of them smiled at each other and at that moment they knew something between them was up but neither of them wanted to admit it. Troy knew that something in his stomach was lurching but he didn't want to let her know that or she'd think he was a freak. They both finished their food and finally they were on their way back home. Their conversation in the car was pleasant and un-hateful which was a first for the both of them.

The both of them walked up the stairs to their designated bedroom for the night. For the first time in years, neither of them yelled at each other. Well, barely but it wasn't war between the two of them like usual. It was just the two of them on a _date_ and both of them enjoyed their night.

Troy leaned forward to kiss her; he felt the heat of her lips on his as he inched closer to her lips. Before their lips touched, he pulled back without kissing her and watched the expression on her face. "Waving the white flag, Montez?" Troy challenged with a smile on his face.

Gabriella opened her eyes after she heard his voice. A huge rush of disappointment ran through her body instantly. "You wish, Bolton...Game on," Gabriella gave him a teasing smile before closing her bedroom door.

* * *

**Yes I know it's short, but I promise after prom you'll get a long chapter if you want! (: Review please!**


	13. Espouse

**A/N: I'm surprised as you are on putting up another chapter. I wrote this chapter and didn't think I'd post it till next week after prom, but I wanted to. So I'm working out Troyella more so be patient with me. (: Also I'm sorry if I don't update soon because as mentioned before, prom is coming up and it's keeping me occupied. I wrote this one because I woke up from a power nap after church and had the urge to write.**

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:** Espouse  
(i· spous)_v_.  
1. To stand up for; or support.

"Gabriella wake your ass up now!" Sharpay threw a pillow at Gabriella's bed as she approached her bed.

Gabriella groaned as she heard the sound of her best friend's voice echoing throughout the bedroom. "Who let you in my house?" Gabriella managed to muffle through her pillow. Gabriella hated school; it was one of the worst things. Even though she was a smart girl, she hated sitting through hours of class listening to a teacher talk about something that has nothing to do with the school subject.

"Troy did," Sharpay added. "You need to get ready for school or you're going to be late. Did you go out late last night or something?"

When Sharpay asked Gabriella that question, Troy popped into her head and all of a sudden she felt butterflies.

Sharpay took the cue when she didn't answer and sat on her bed. "Oh my god, who'd you go out with last night?! Cohen?!"Sharpay clapped her hands together and smiled. "Tell me all about it, start from the beginning. No wait, get ready for school and tell me on the-"she was cut off by Gabriella.

"Sharpay shut up, please. I'm tired and I didn't go out with Cohen, I'm not even talking to him right now," Gabriella finally sat up and drank a cup of water on her table.

"Who'd you go out with last night then?" Sharpay asked with a curious tone in her voice. Sharpay didn't think anything of Troy because she knew their history and he'd be the last person she'd go out with.

Gabriella shook her head and got out of bed, "no one, don't worry about it. Let me just get ready for school and I'll meet you downstairs," Gabriella answered. Gabriella hopped into the shower for a quick shower before going back into her bedroom to change. Gabriella remembered everything last night before she went into her room. Troy almost kissed her and she almost kissed him, she wasn't sure why though, but part of her was disappointed that he didn't kiss her. Gabriella wondered where Troy was this morning; he didn't bother waking her up so she assumed he was still sleeping or something.

Sharpay began to go down the stairs when she heard movement in the kitchen. "Troy?" she asked.

Troy looked up from his bowl of cereal and looked at Sharpay. "What?" he asked nonchalantly.

Sharpay took a seat next to Troy at the dinner table and placed her over sized bag on the table. "Gabriella's grouchy this morning," she said.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "So what?" he asked while chewing his cereal.

"What's with you? What is up with the people in this house?" Sharpay complained.

Troy shrugged his shoulders again and looked away from her. "I went out last night, I had a long night," he said.

It took a moment for everything to click for Sharpay. Once it did, her eyes open widely and she slammed her hand onto the table to make a sound. "No way, you and Gabriella went out last night?!" Sharpay was shocked, more happy than shocked but she wasn't sure how this all happened.

"Whoa whoa, what makes you think I went out with her last night? I could have easily gone out with someone else," Troy said defensively.

Sharpay rolled her eyes at Troy, "Troy I'm not stupid, I can put the pieces together and I know you two did. Do you like her or something?"

Troy looked away when she asked that question, "Let's just say me and her are kind of getting along okay? So whatever is on your mind, get rid of it because that's all me and her are going to be," Troy added. "I'd never date her, never in a million years."Troy stared at Sharpay for a very long time and the both of them knew that was a lie but neither of them said a single word.

Their staring contest was interrupted by the sound of Gabriella coming down the stairs. "You ready to go?" she asked Sharpay and her eyes landed on Troy. She gave him a faint smile and looked back at Sharpay who looked like she saw a ghost. "What's wrong Shar?"

Sharpay snapped out of her gaze and looked at her best friend, "yeah I' m ready, let's go," she told her and the three of them headed to Sharpay's car. The whole car ride was sort of tense and quiet. Gabriella didn't say anything and Sharpay was still deep in thoughts about the two of them. "So Gabriella, tell me about this date you went on last night, did you like the guy?" She felt her seat being kicked and she glared at Troy through the rear mirror.

Gabriella fumbled with her fingers as she looked out the window, "Uh it was so-so," Gabriella responded.

"Oh shut up Gabriella, you can't keep it from me. You went out with Bolton didn't you?" Sharpay finally broke out and said.

Gabriella faced her best friend and frowned, "how did you know?"

Troy smirked at the two of them, "in my defense, she didn't tell me you went out last night," he responded to her question.

Gabriella turned back in her seat and narrowed her eyes at Troy. "I didn't go out with him, I went to the go-kart and he just came along," she informed.

Troy rolled his eyes, "True and I'd never date her anyway," he also added.

"Actually, I'll never date him," Gabriella informed as well and Sharpay snorted.

"It's not a big deal anyway Sharpay, me and Troy are getting along and that's it. It's better than me and him getting into a huge argument right? Don't say anything to anyone because it'll get blown out of proportion and people will think that he and I are dating when we're not," Gabriella stated.

"And we'll never," Troy added.

"Sure…" Sharpay pulled into the school lot and the three of them walked into the school like nothing ever happened.

* * *

Gabriella and Sharpay walked together to their lockers that were right next to each other. When they arrived, they were approached by Taylor, the third musketeer.

"Hey guys, what's with the long face?" she asked the two of them.

"Nothing," they both answered quickly. Taylor stared between the two of them and shook her head. "You guys are so weird," Taylor added and they went to their lockers.

Gabriella opened her locker and a note fell out. She bent down to pick up her letter and on the front it said "Gabriella." Gabriella opened the letter and there was a long letter to her from Cohen

_Dear Gabriella,_

_I know I've been acting like a jerk, but I want you to know that you mean a lot to me  
I don't want you to think that I'm a jerk and a bad guy because I'm not.  
I know I did you wrong at your birthday and acted like a little kid, but I really like you.  
I hope you can forgive me because you and I can work out as a couple._

Gabriella read the letter until she got to a part that really caught her attention. She held the letters in both hand and continued on.

_ We were never really together but I'm hoping you will give me another chance?  
Troy Bolton is a bad guy, don't fall for a jerk like him.  
I'm here for you. Please meet me after class today  
Forever & Always,  
Cohen_

Gabriella couldn't believe he'd write her a letter and have the nerves to ask her back. The Forever and Always part made her sick to her stomach for some odd reason. Reading that from him made her sick. She knew never in a million years would she talk to a jerk like him again. Gabriella's vision turned black when she felt a pair of hands on her eyes. She turned around and faced Cohen one on one. "What do you want Cohen?"

"Did you read my letter?" he asked her with a stupid grin on his face.

Gabriella nodded and folded it back up and handed it back to him. "I'm sorry Cohen, what you did was unacceptable and I don't think I can ever forgive you," Gabriella spoke and in the distance she saw Troy staring her way. She bit her bottom lip and looked back at Cohen; hoping he didn't see who she was staring at but she was too late.

Cohen turned around and saw Troy in the distance, "you like him huh? What about your hate for him? What about integrity and dignity?" he asked her.

Gabriella shook her head, "Shut up with that crap Cohen, I'm done with you," Gabriella grabbed her stuff and began walking away but he grabbed her wrist a little too hard for her liking. "Ow Cohen, let go you're hurting me," she said.

Cohen shook his head, "just stay and listen to me please, I can't go on without you." Now his words were scaring Gabriella, she didn't want him to touch her.

"Cohen let go!" Gabriella could hear her friends in the back telling him to let go but he wasn't moving.

Troy noticed this and so did his two best friends. Troy quickly came over and pushed Cohen into the locker, "don't you ever fucking touch a girl like that," Troy shouted and this caused a circle around them. Everyone was a bystander but when a fight involved Troy then everyone wanted to watch.

Cohen was taken aback by the quick push but he lunged himself forward at Cohen. What a mistake Cohen did. Troy raised his fist in the air and socked him in the right eye to cause him to fall back. By now the two were on the ground fighting.

"Troy stop," Gabriella shouted. "You're going to be benched from the game if you don't stop!" Gabriella said and she watched Chad trying to pull them apart.

"What is going on!" the principal shouted. He saw the two on the floor and grabbed them both up by their shirts, "Troy, Cohen…my office now!" he roared.

Everyone quickly scattered away from the scene in case they got in trouble and Gabriella stood their shocked. Her two best friends were at her side and she watched as the boy who defended her walk away.

* * *

The whole school was buzzing about the fight between the two all-stars of the school. Some speculated that they fought over who was better and others said that they fought over Gabriella. Every time Gabriella walked into a classroom, people would simply stare and whisper amongst each other. Gabriella ignored them though and sat in her usual spot and opened her text book. Soon, the whole class was talking loud enough that Gabriella could hear. Gabriella got sick of hearing the same crap over and over when no one knew the real story. "If you have something to say then say it to my face," Gabriella stated.

People were scared of Gabriella. As nice as she was, people were intimidated because they knew the history between her and Troy and they assumed that she'd do the same to them. Soon the whole classroom became silent and no one spoke another word about the fight. As soon as the bell rung, she got her stuff together and pushed her way out of the classroom. Gabriella wanted her best friends and she wanted them now. Gabriella saw Chad with a couple friends and she walked over to him. "Chad can I talk to you?" she asked.

Chad nodded his head; "Sure," he said and walked with her to her locker.

"Do you know what's going to happen to Troy? If he gets benched I'm going to feel so guilty," Gabriella sighed deeply and leaned against one of the lockers.

Chad rubbed his neck, he knew what happened but he wasn't sure if he should tell Gabriella when Troy specifically told him not to.

"Chad please just tell me," Gabriella sighed.

"He got suspended along with Cohen for ten days; he won't be able to play in the basketball game," Chad finally gave him and decided to tell Gabriella. It was probably the best thing to do since she was so worried over Troy. "Why does it matter to you anyway?" Chad finally said. "I thought you could careless of what happens to Troy."

"It's…complicated," Gabriella said breathlessly and then got out her cell phone to check the time. She had a couple hours of school left and she couldn't deal with everyone talking.

"Complicated? How so?" Chad asked with suspicion.

Gabriella shook her head, "let's not talk about this now. Where is he now?"

"He went home I suppose, he said he wasn't allowed back till ten days," Chad shrugged.

Gabriella nodded her head, "I think I'm going to take off," she said.

Chad raised his eyebrow, now he knew something was up because Gabriella never cut school; ever. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm sick," Gabriella lied.

"Swine flu?" Chad joked.

Gabriella hit him in the arm and shook her head, "that's not something to joke about Chad," she hugged her books to her chest. "I just need to go home, and no it's not because of Troy if that's what you think."

Chad gave up in trying to get something out of Gabriella. She was stubborn and he knew he couldn't get anything out of her. "Okay fine," he said. "But Gabriella, please if this is about Troy; don't cut school because of him. Don't change because of him; I know you hate him but cut him some slack okay?" Chad hugged his best friend and watched her walk to the office.

She was old enough to check herself out and so she did so in the main office. The people questioned her, but eventually they had to let her go. She had to take the city bus home because she had no other way. This was the first time she's ever taken the city bus and she prayed that she didn't get lost. Gabriella arrived near her house ten minutes later and walked the rest of the way. Gabriella unlocked the door of her house and heard the TV on.

"Whose home?" she heard Troy shout.

"It's me," Gabriella shouted back and closed the door behind her.

"What are you doing home?"

Gabriella walked into the living room and placed her backpack and bag on the couch and sat down on the sofa. "I wanted to see what was up with you," she said.

"Well because of you, I'm suspended and I can't play in the basketball game so pretty much the team is screwed and now I'm home sitting on my ass because I have nothing better to do," Troy complained.

Gabriella put her hand up in defense mode, "whoa now, first of all it's not my fault that you got suspended. I didn't ask for you to defend me and second of all, you act like you have nothing to do when there are plenty of things to do in Albuquerque."

Troy rolled his eyes, "whatever, if it wasn't for me. Mr. Pervert would have hurt you," Troy muttered.

"Okay if you didn't want to get suspended then why'd you fight him? Why'd you even bother coming to help me?" she asked him, feeling her own voice rise.

Troy sat up on the couch now and looked at her. "Why don't you just get over and thank me already?" he coldly responded.

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something but Troy's cell phone rang.

"Shit," Troy flipped his phone opened and placed his phone to his ear. "Hi dad," he said with his voice shaking a bit. "Yes, I know but-…" he sighed, "I'm sorry- it's just-"he was cut off and never finished any of his sentences. Before he knew it, he closed his phone and laid back in his seat. "My dad is super mad at me and he's coming home tomorrow night to give me my punishment," Troy rubbed his head.

Gabriella sighed and looked away from Troy for a minute, "look, thanks for helping me, but you knew what was coming and you did it anyway," she said and got up from the sofa. She went into the fridge to get herself something to drink.

"I did know what was coming and if you'd just tell him off, he'd never do anything to you," troy said and got up after her and went into the kitchen. He wasn't done talking to her.

Gabriella closed the fridge and turned around to see Troy right there in her face. Their bodies were two inches away from each other and Troy was looking down on her. She gazed up at him and held onto her drink tightly in her hand. Before she could ask him what he was doing, his lips crushed against hers and Gabriella dropped her drink onto the floor and placed her hand on the back of his head to pull him in. Before she could deepen the kiss, he pulled away and stared at her for a long time. Neither of them said a word and Troy left the kitchen and went into his bedroom without a word. Gabriella stood there in shock and finally bent down to pick up the bottle she dropped. She stared at it and shook her head. "Stupid Troy," she muttered and went into her own bedroom.

* * *

Gabriella stayed in her room all day that following day. She couldn't face Troy after kissing him, it was weird but at the same time she liked it. The part she was surprised about the most is how he got up himself and actually walked over and kissed her first. There was no one else there to witness this kiss, but it didn't matter to her. She laid in bed and tried passing time until dinner, she used her laptop to update her facebook and MySpace. There was a knock on her door at five thirty. "Come in," she shouted, assuming it was probably Taylor or Sharpay again.

Troy opened the door and he was dressed in a dark pair of jeans and a white shirt with his black leather jacket over him. "I'm going out," he said.

Gabriella raised her eyebrow and sat up in her bed, "where are you going?" she asked him curiously.

"I have places to go and someone's waiting for me," he said and closed the door behind him as he left.

Gabriella sat there in shock. How could he go on a date after kissing her? He acted like nothing happened when a huge thing just happened. She felt anger and pain in her when he spoke to her. Was she jealous? Gabriella shook the thought out of her head and got her phone out. She needed her friend right now; she dialed Taylor's number.

"Hey Gabs."

"Hey Taylor, what's up?" she asked casually.

"Not much, I'm just here with Chad and his friends."

Gabriella hesitated to ask her friend so she continued the conversation," oh, well i left school early today because I didn't feel so well," she felt like she needed to tell her friend that.

"Oh…well that's okay, I can tell you the homework if that's why you called me, and it'll be no big deal."

Gabriella stayed quiet on the other side of the line for a minute. That minute supposedly was a bit long because Taylor spoke before she could.

"Are you okay Gabs?"

"Yeah I'm fine, but do you think you can come over right now? I_ need_ to tell you something," Gabriella emphasized the need.

"What's wrong? Well okay yeah I'll be over in five," she said.

Gabriella shut her phone off and waited for her best friend to come over. In exactly five minutes later Taylor was over and the two of them were sitting in Gabriella's bedroom. "What is wrong Gabs? Tell me now," her best friend wanted to know.

Gabriella let out a huge sigh and then hesitated again for a minute. "You know how earlier today you asked me what was wrong?"

"Yeah?"

Gabriella eventually had to tell her best friend why she was acting weird today and she also included the kissing part. Her best friend needed to know this stuff, even if she didn't want to tell her.

Since Gabriella could remember, Taylor always wanted Troy and Gabriella to get together but that would have never happened because of the two of them hated each other and neither of them would think about dating the other person.

"You two did what?" Taylor exclaimed. "Oh my god!"

"Taylor Taylor, it's not that big of a deal-"

"Yes it is, it's the biggest deal ever! I knew you two would get together, I predicted it and I'm right," Taylor had a huge victorious grin on her face.

"We're technically not together," Gabriella explained. "He went out on a date tonight and I'm not sure where he went, he's acting like nothing happened and it's pissing me off."

"Wait, he's out on a date right now?" Taylor asked. "Why would he do that to you?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think he knows he's doing it," she said, sighing a bit. "Whatever though, it'll all blow over sooner or later," Gabriella laid back but her friend pushed her back up.

"No we're not letting this one go, go change and we're going to find where this boy went. I overheard Chad talking to him about going somewhere tonight, I can confirm it with Chad and we'll go see who this two timing boy is with," Taylor dialed Chad's phone number as Gabriella got changed.

Gabriella got out of the bathroom at the same time as Taylor got off the phone. "So he's at the StarDome hang out spot," Taylor placed her jacket on and stood up.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Tay?"

"I'm positive; now let's go before you change your mind."

Gabriella sighed as she got into the car with Taylor, "I can't believe you talked me into doing this, I feel so bad for spying on him. Look Taylor, I don't really care what he's up to," Gabriella tried getting out of the car but Taylor auto-locked it.

"I had a feeling you were going to bail on me at the last minute," Taylor exclaimed and turned her car on. "Let's call this operation Bolton. He is our mission."

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**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	14. Iconoclast

**A/N:** So I have more time on my hand now that prom is over. It was fun for those who were wondering =). By next Monday I will be on top of things and updating frequently. I can't do much this weekend for one I'll be going to see Taylor Swift in concert on Friday and then I'll be in Canada for the weekend. But enjoy this chapter! Xo.

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**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:** Iconoclast  
(ahy· **kon**· _uh_· klast)_n_.  
1. One who rebels against all rules.

"Okay...so where are we going exactly?" Gabriella turned down the stereo in Taylor's car. Usually Taylor blasted her music which ticked Gabriella off sometimes.

Taylor took a right at the next stop sign and looked over at her best friend. "Well Chad told me that he was at the place that he usually goes too often," Taylor said.

Gabriella squirmed in her seat a bit. Why was she so nervous to see him? A part of her was hoping he was alone or with a guy friend. At this point, she knew she developed feelings for Troy. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it was the truth. "I have a bad feeling about this Tay," she said. "Maybe we should just go home."

Taylor rolled her eyes away from her best friend so she couldn't see. "You need to relax Gabriella, we gotta see what this boy is up to," Taylor spoke with confidence in her voice. When it came to these things, Taylor had her best friend's back one hundred percent no matter what the situation was. That silence Gabriella for the rest of the ride to the building and when Taylor arrived she parked up by the curb in front of the building. Gabriella stared at the building from inside the car and her heart leaped. This was where people went when they went out on dates or something. Gabriella didn't get out the car; she waited for Taylor to take notice. "Gabriella come on, it's now or never."

"I choose never," Gabriella responded but it didn't matter. Taylor dragged her out of the car and the two of them went around the back to take the back way in. The place wasn't too much of a club nor was it less of a regular hang out spot. Gabriella glanced around quickly for Troy as she was waiting to spot him. Taylor went off to the side to find him on the other side of the building. Finally, Gabriella saw the back of Troy's head and her heart leaped five feet forward. She froze in position and prayed that he wouldn't see her and at this moment she wanted Taylor with her. Gabriella gripped onto the railing next to her and stayed on the down low. "Come on Tay…" Her knuckles were turning white from holding onto the railing so tightly. Gabriella didn't see anyone with Troy so far, he was sitting at the table alone. Gabriella felt bad for spying on him for no reason. "I knew this would be a bad idea," Gabriella mutters and then she bumped into someone coming from behind. "I'm so-"she turned around to see Brent standing there.

"Gabriella!" Brent said with a smile on his face. "What a pleasant surprise to see you here, I didn't know you came around here." When he spoke it was like his voice was singing. It was kind of amazing.

Gabriella forced herself to smile at him, "Well uh, it is kind of the hang out spot," Gabriella answered back. She fiddle in her spot and her eyes wandered off to Troy.

Brent caught onto this and turned around seeing Troy himself. His eyes narrowed and then he turned back to Gabriella. "Are you here with him?"

Gabriella shook her head, "uh no not exactly. He doesn't know I'm here actually," Gabriella answers embarrassingly. "I'm here with my best friend Taylor."

"Oh…I see. Would you like to sit and have some coffee with me? It's not me," he politely offered.

Gabriella shook her head, "as good as that sounds, I have to decline your offer, don't take it personally but I'm trying to get out of here as quick as I can," she said.

"Why?" a voice from behind them came. Busted. Gabriella closed her eyes and prayed that it was an annoying voice in her head telling her that. She turned around and knew that it wasn't just in her head. "Hi Troy," Gabriella forced herself to act like it was a surprise to see him.

Troy kept his eyes on Gabriella for a brief second before looking at Brent, "what the hell do you think you're doing at my spot?" Troy coldly spoke.

Brent smirked, "this ain't your spot," he shot back. "I have better things to do than look at your dumbass," Brent nodded at Gabriella once before walking off.

Gabriella watched him and then forced herself to look at Troy. "Look Troy, I-"

"Were you following me?" Troy didn't give her time to explain.

Gabriella quickly shook her head and released her grip from the railing. "No, I came here with Taylor and we-"she was cut off by him once again.

"Look, I don't know what you think I'm doing or whatever but I don't appreciate you and your little friend spying on me," Troy's anger was raising and so was his voice.

Taylor saw the two talking and knew it was her cue to go over and explain to Troy. "Hey Troy," Taylor chirped when she approached the two.

Troy's eyes were filled of anger and Taylor knew that this was not a moment to be chippy. Taylor looked at Gabriella who wouldn't make eye contact with either of them. "Uh I think I should go, Troy can you take-"

"Yes." Troy answered and waved her off. He had some talking to do with Gabriella. "Okay look first of all, I don't know what you're thinking about the two of us," he spoke.

"You kissed me Troy."

Troy stopped talking for a second and knew that he had nothing to say of that. "I might've, but you know what? I kiss everyone so," he shrugged his shoulders. "You gotta deal with that."

Those words felt like a gunshot to Gabriella's heart. She couldn't believe he'd say something like that. After starting to fall for a boy like him, she gets shot down. She knew she hated him for a reason. Gabriella held back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "Look can we just go home?" she asked him. She was so angry and hurt at the moment, all she wanted to do was get out of here. Gabriella pushed past him and went outside to the front.

Troy watched her before paying for his stuff and walking out of the building. He walked in front of her and kept a distance from her to the car. Troy didn't even look back once.

Gabriella looked up at the car and noticed it was her mom's car. "You took my mom's car?" Gabriella asked horrified.

Troy shrugged, "Your car was a piece of crap and I needed to be here," he said.

Gabriella ran up to the car and looked at Troy. "Why, why would you do that?! You know you're not supposed to take it out!" she screamed. Gabriella shook her head, "oh god, you're so lucky my mom isn't home or she'd kill you," Gabriella said and got into the passenger seat, "let's just go home and put the car back in one piece."

Troy rolled his eyes and got into the driver's seat. The way back, neither of them spoke to each other. It was an awkward silence and neither of them would even turn their heads to look at each other. "So why did you come and spy on me?"

Gabriella finally looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, "it doesn't matter anymore. What were you doing there?" she asked curiously.

"Mind your own damn business," Troy responded and drove quicker home.

Gabriella shook her head, "Look if you were with some girl, that's fine. But never take my mom's car out again," she threatened. "Or else."

Troy rolled his eyes, "I wasn't with _some _girl," Troy answered. "I was with someone that you don't need to know about."

Gabriella felt the pain go through her heart when he said those words again. She didn't want to hear those words at all. Half way home, the car started making a weird sound. "Oh no…" Gabriella knew something bad was going to happen.

Troy pulled over to the shoulder and got out of the car. He popped the hood and looked at the engine. After wiping his hand on his jeans he opened the passenger door side. "Uh, it's kind of broken."

Gabriella's eyes widen when he said those words. She got out of the car and looked at the engine herself. She was pretty handy when it came to cars and she knew what was going on. It was broken alright. Gabriella walked over to Troy and punched him a few times in the arm. "I." Punch. "Told." Punch. "You." Punch. "Not to take my mom's car!" Punch, punch, punch, punch.

"OUCH! OKAY STOP!" For a girl like Gabriella, she hit like a boy. Troy rubbed his arms and called the tow truck. After getting off the phone he looked at Gabriella. "I'll pay for it, don't worry."

"Yeah you better," Gabriella muttered and crossed her arm. She stood over by the street lamp and waited. Troy leaned against the door and texted Chad on his phone. Finally the tow truck came and connected the car to the truck. Troy spoke a few words with the tow truck man and then he left.

"So how are we getting home genius?" Gabriella spat.

Troy shook his head and at that moment Chad pulled up in his car. "Thanks man," he waited for Gabriella to get into the back seat and then he got in.

Chad felt the tension in the car but asked nothing of it. He glanced back at Gabriella in the rear mirror before driving back to Gabriella's house. Chad and Troy talked some more about basketball while Gabriella stayed quiet in the back. She was so furious at Troy right now she could punch him even more. Chad pulled up the Montez resident and the two of them got out. Gabriella stormed into the house first while Troy stayed back and chatted with Chad for a bit before following Gabriella into the house. When Troy walked up to the front of the house he saw Gabriella standing still in the hallway. "Are you oka-"he was cut off when he saw the sight of his mom and Gabriella's mom. Shit.

* * *

"M-Mom, what are you guys doing home so early?" Gabriella asked and walked into the kitchen where the two parents were having tea. Troy closed the door behind him and walked into the kitchen after Gabriella.

Gabriella's mom hugged her daughter and smiled, "we missed you two so much and felt bad for leaving you two stranded together longer so we decided to come home," she answered.

Troy hugged his mom and took a seat next to her. "Yeah, I missed Troy so much, I couldn't bear to go another day without him," his mom gushed and then Gabriella took a seat next to her mom.

"How was the trip?" Gabriella asked nervously. She wondered how long it would take her mom to realize that the car was gone."

"It was amazing, the sun was out a lot and I got tan," Gabriella's mom answered. "How was being at home? Did you two behave and get along?"

Troy nodded his head, "for most part, yeah."

The two parents laughed and talked amongst themselves. Gabriella stared at Troy and shook her head at him. She knew that Troy had to take the blame, if he didn't she'd get in trouble. Troy stared back at Gabriella with a cold hard stare. Gabriella knew that look, that look meant he wasn't going to spill anytime soon. Gabriella shook her head and went to get something to drink out of the fridge.

"So where's dad?" Troy asked.

"He's going to talk to the assistant coach man and then he'll be back," she said. "You can go home now; you can finally sleep in your own bed. Go pack up your stuff," his mom answered.

Gabriella's mom smiled at Troy and Gabriella before getting up. Gabriella knew this was the moment her mom would noticed the car. She disappeared into the garage and in a split second, her mom came back out. "Where is my car?!"

"Mom please don't freak out," Gabriella's voice quivered.

"Where is my car?" this time her voice was fiercer.

Gabriella looked at Troy and then back at her mom. "It's in the shop," she took a deep breath and waited for the yelling to start happening.

"Why is it in the shop?!"

Gabriella looked at Troy and then back at her mom, "because I drove it tonight and I accidently did something to the engine. I promise I'll pay for it, I swear I didn't mean to break it."

Troy's jaw dropped open when she took the blame for him. She couldn't believe Gabriella Montez would do a thing like that. Gabriella looked back at Troy and then at her mom who was still yelling.

"You go to your room!" Gabriella got out of the chair and headed upstairs to her room.

"I'm so sorry for that yelling, I never knew my daughter was so irresponsible," Gabriella's mom rubbed her temples and then sat back down in the seat.

Troy's mom shook her head, "it's okay, I'm just glad she's okay, but me and Troy should get going now, Troy go grab your stuff."

Troy got up, still in disbelief. Troy would have gotten in huge trouble by his mom if she found out he was the one to break the car. He couldn't believe Gabriella would take the blame after those words Troy said to her tonight. he went up to his room and on his way up, he passed Gabriella's closed bedroom doors. Troy shook his head and went up another flight of stairs to his guest room. He packed up all of his stuff and then tidied up the room for Ms. Montez. Troy then heard movement in the hallway and noticed Gabriella was passing to the bathroom. "Gabi."

Gabriella stopped in her steps and looked up at Troy. "What do you want Bolton?" she asked coldly.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

Gabriella knew what he meant and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I knew how much trouble you'd be in and I just had to do it, because I'm nice like that," Gabriella stopped talking for a moment. "Well to people besides you, but I just did you a favor now you can leave."

Troy walked down the stairs and grabbed her wrist before she walked off into the bathroom. He pulled her back and turned her around. He placed one arm around her waist while his other hand was lifting her chin up to his lips. He kissed her, this time it was fiercer and it took Gabriella time to react, but when she did, her hands went on his face and hair. Troy's lips were hard on her lips and his tongue glided against her lips to part her lips. Troy moved her back and leaned her up against the wall and their tongues danced with one another. Troy's adrenaline was pumping and Gabriella's mind was spinning. It was moments like these that got the two of them worked up.

Their parents were downstairs and here they were upstairs making out with each other. Troy's hand moved from her chin down to her waist and both of his hand grazed up and down her back and he began kissing her neck softly. Gabriella tilted her head to the side a bit and gave him better access to his neck. Gabriella gently placed her hand in his hair and ruffled it softly as he continued to kiss her neck.

"Troy? Sweetie?" his mom's voice echoed from downstairs. Quickly the two of them parted from each other and Troy gave her one last long look before grabbing his bag and going downstairs. Gabriella stood there in shock that he'd actually finally kiss her again. Troy was a mystery to her, but that's what she enjoyed the most. He was the boy she'd love to hate and hate to love.

* * *

Gabriella laid in bed that night and she couldn't fall asleep. Troy's kiss was on her mind and Gabriella turned on her side to look at the alarm clock. It was two am and it was a school night. There was no way she would be able to wake up tomorrow and be able to go to school. Gabriella heard a rock being thrown at her back door and she got up out of her bed. Gabriella opened her backdoor and walked out to the balcony. She glanced down and saw Troy in a white shirt with a leather black jacket over it.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella hissed. She knew her mom could wake up any moment and find Troy here and question them. She was already in huge trouble by her mom.

Troy smirked when he saw the fear on her face. "Come on," he spoke.

"What?"

"Let's go," Troy whispered loudly back.

"Go where? Right now? Gabriella's voice was loud and Troy quieted her. "I can't leave, are you crazy?" Gabriella whispered back.

Troy nodded his head, "yeah, meet me down in five by my car," Troy left before she could reject his offer.

Gabriella went back inside her room and shook her head. "Is he crazy? There is no way I'm going!" Gabriella sat on her bed and hesitated for two minutes. Gabriella bit her bottom lip and knew that she had to take a risk, it was about time she did that. Gabriella quickly pulled on a pair of her skinny jeans and a jacket. She quickly put her hair up in a messy bun and went downstairs quietly. Her mom's bedroom door was closed and the lights were off, she knew that her mom was a deep sleeper. Gabriella grabbed her house keys and left the house. She locked it behind her and jolted off to Troy's car. When she got in, he instantly drove off and the two of them sat there in silence knowing that this would be a ride she'll never forget.

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	15. Covetous

**A/N:** Okay, first of all, I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in SO long…I had a rough/busy month or so and now I'm done with school so I have more time for a story. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting; I hope it doesn't change anything! Thank you for those who read my stories, it really means a lot.

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**CHAPTER FIFTEEN:** Covetous  
(kuhv·i·tuhs)_Adj.  
_1. Eagerly desirous.

Gabriella constantly glanced over her shoulders to look out of the car. Her palms were sweating as she was holding down on her seat.

Troy noticed her actions and couldn't help but smile. He knew she was nervous and scared that she'd get caught. He didn't take his eyes off of the road but he opened his mouth to speak. "Relax Gab, you're not going to get caught," he told her firmly.

Gabriella looked back at Troy and hid her face in embarrassment. "I'm not scared, I'm just looking around your car, I've never been in it," she admitted and lied at the same time.

Troy rolled his eyes, "I'm sure," he said sarcastically. Troy took a right turn at the next stop sign and drove down the narrow road.

"Where are we going?" she asked. Troy sat there and didn't respond to her questions which ticked her off a bit. "Tell me where we're going," Gabriella demanded.

"You know, a guy never likes a girl who asks so many questions," Troy smirked.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him, she knew he was mocking her and trying to get her angry. She knew not to bait in though so she kept her cool. "I don't care on your opinion, now tell me where we're going or take me home," she sharply spoke.

Troy pressed on the breaks super hard and caused Gabriella's head to fly forward a bit but she was fine.

"What the hell?!"

Troy leaned his arm back over to the back of her seat and put the car in reverse with one hand and then pressed on the gas to drive back around to where they came from.

Gabriella knew he was playing with her emotions and she wasn't happy right now. "Troy, what is your problem?!" Gabriella's voice was loud and she knew that Troy was getting annoyed with her as well.

"I'm taking you home," he said firmly without taking his eyes off the road.

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it again. Gabriella wanted to go home right now because she couldn't risk getting caught; especially after what her mom thought she did.

Troy pulled up to the front of her house and waited for her to get out. Troy didn't even need to look at her once and he patiently tapped his foot. "Get out."

Gabriella smirked at him and shook her head before getting out of his car. She couldn't believe Troy would act like this- rethinking herself, she realized Troy could act like this. The two of them could never get along so what was she thinking anyways. As Gabriella started to get out of the car, Troy grabbed her wrist back and kissed her on the lips again- hard. Gabriella kissed him back before seconds later, she pulled away. "What the hell?!" she repeated.

Troy looked away from her and went back to staring out the window. "Get out."

Gabriella was furious by now and she got up and out of her car. "Stupid boys," she muttered and slammed the car door extra hard that probably would be able to break his car. As she was walking up her walkway, Troy loudly pressed on the horn, loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear and drove off quickly. Gabriella's jaw dropped and she turned around to look at him but he was gone. As Gabriella turned back around, her mom was standing at the front porch with her arm crossed.

"Crap." Gabriella sighed and walked into the house with her head hung low, she knew her mom was going to kill her. "I'm going to kill you Troy Bolton."

* * *

The next morning at school, Troy came inside and went straight to the principal. His suspension was post-pone due to his dad talking to the principal. People were whispering amongst each other when Troy walked past. He gave them a strong stare and they instantly looked away. No one dared to mess with Troy Bolton, especially if you were underclassmen. Troy went to his locker and entered his combination. Once he got it opened, he got his books that he needed for his first few class. Troy closed his locker and there popped Gabriella's face. "Jesus Gabriella, you scared the crap out of me," Troy said and then leaned against his locker carelessly. "What's up?"

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at him, anger was rushing through her body but she kept it in. "What's up? I don't know Troy, you tell me. You come to my house, you kiss me, you pick me up in the middle of the night, and then you change your mind about taking me somewhere, you take me home, and then you kiss me- again. The next thing, you're driving away- but wait, before you do, you honk your horn which caused my mom to wake up," her voice was rising now. "My mom woke up and caught me you know! You got me in so much shit!" Gabriella raised her arm up which caused Troy to flinch because he thought she was going to hit him.

Troy blinked a few times and then shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry I guess," he mumbled.

"Sorry? Are you kidding me? That's all you got?"

"What do you want me to say?" Troy asked her and this time he got off the locker and gave the head nod to some of the girls walking by them.

Gabriella noticed the girls and felt an instant rush of jealousy run through her, but she didn't show it.

Troy watched as Gabriella started to go off on him, her voice was rising and people were staring. Troy didn't care though; he was simply just staring at her face. Her cheeks were turning a bright rosy pink as she was yelling and her eyes turned watery which made it sparkle. "God you're pretty," Troy blurted.

Gabriella stopped talking once he said that and she felt her cheeks burn deeply. "What?" That was all she managed to say.

"What?"

"What?" Gabriella repeated.

"I don't know," Troy answered again.

Gabriella raised her eyebrow at him, "did you just call me pretty?" she asked him again.

Troy felt himself blush again, "What? No, I didn't. Look Gabi, I gotta go, I have stuff to do and classes to be at," he rushed.

"School doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, you shouldn't be in a rush and I'm not done with you," she felt her face rising again.

Troy sighed and stood still again, "look can you hurry it up then, start yelling so I can leave," he rudely said.

Gabriella opened her mouth to yell at him, "Now I'm grounded and I have my car taken away because of you, I'm suffering because you got me in trouble and what do I do for you? I defended your ass and this is how you repay me?" she yelled. "You're a jerk Troy."

"I know," Troy sneered.

Gabriella's body was shaking with anger now, she raised her arm to slap him but someone held it back, she turned around and saw Taylor standing with her. "Taylor, let me go," she said.

Taylor shook her head, "Don't do it Gabs, he's not worth your time," Taylor gave him a stare down before looking at her best friend, "look let's go to class," she said.

Gabriella shook her head, "no I'm not done talking with him, you go catch up with the others, and I'll be there soon," she said.

Taylor narrowed her eyes at Troy before walking away.

"Why is she mad at me?" Troy asked.

"I told her what you did to me," Gabriella said and then shrugged her shoulders," pretty much all of our friends know what you did and they think it's pretty messed up," Gabriella smirked.

Troy sighed, "Whatever I'm ditching school," Troy simply said. "Want to come?"

"What? No I don't want to skip school," Gabriella said horrified. Gabriella was a good student and she knew skipping class was bad because if you were to get caught you would get suspended and Gabriella never got suspended before.

"Okay, suit yourself," Troy said and at that moment a blonde girl came walking across with her friends. She smiled waved at Troy before walking away, swaying her hips more than before.

Gabriella glared at the girl and the feeling came to her again, she clenched her fist together before looking back at Troy. Never in a million years did she ever think she would be jealous of someone liking Troy.

"Maybe I'll just ask her," Troy simply said and began walking after her.

Gabriella shook her head; she knew she was going to regret what she was going to do. She ran after Troy and grabbed his wrist. "I change my mind, I'll skip class with you," she said.

"My kind of girl," Troy said and wrapped his arm around her shoulder but Gabriella shrugged it off.

"Let's just go before I change my mind," she said and walked to his car. Gabriella knew Troy was moody and if she didn't watch what she was doing then he could bust her. Troy was a mastermind, she had to admit. "Where are we going?"

"Stop asking me that."

"I want to know."

"Well I guess you just have to wait and see don't you?" Troy said as they got into the car.

Gabriella sighed; "it better not be anywhere dumb," Gabriella spoke quietly under her breath. She was kind of nervous for this because she never skipped school before, let alone with Troy.

"Don't worry; you'll have a great time with me." With that, Troy pressed a button in his car and the doors locked.

* * *

"Hey Shar, hey Zeke," Taylor said as she walked into homeroom.

"Hey Tay," they both said and then Chad came walking in with his basketball friends not long after Taylor walked in. "Hey Chad," they all said in a monotone.

Chad nodded at them and sat down, "Where's the Gabster and hoops?" he asked.

"Uh, last time I checked they were at Troy's locker bickering at each other again," Taylor replied to Chad.

Chad shook his head, "I don't think so because I was just at my locker and neither of the two were there," Chad said back to Taylor.

"Well Gabriella never misses class, she'll be here before the bell rings-" Sharpay quickly said.

_Brrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrring._

"So much for Gabriella being on time eh?" Zeke smirked and the four of them stared around the classroom and then each other.

Zeke leaned back in his seat and sighed, "you don't think they're skipping class do you?"

"Gabriella and Troy? There is no way because they hate each other," Taylor responded to Zeke's question.

"So Miss Montez and Mr. Bolton both aren't here?" Miss Darbus asked after taking attendance. No one said anything and with that, Miss Darbus sent off the attendance to the office.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Gabriella asked for the tenth time.

"No, and if you keep asking me we're going back to school," Troy said aggravated now. Troy took another corner farther away from school and drove down the long narrow road.

Gabriella sighed, "I swear I'm going to get caught, I can feel it already." Gabriella fiddled in her seat as she was watching the surroundings. She never been down this road before, but this was going to be a change and she was going to know this road by now.

"I asked you to come, you said no but you change your mind so it's your fault," Troy said back to her and then finally stopped at a destination that Gabriella's never been before. Gabriella saw a whole lot of trees and dirt.

"Why are you taking me here?" she simply asked.

"Just come on," Troy said and got out of the car. He waited for her to get out before locking his car door. "Follow me," he said and then walked through the woods.

"If you're taking me here to kill me then I shouldn't follow you," Gabriella joked.

Troy shook his head and continued walking into the forest. He stepped over branches and held them back to let her come through and then he went over some logs.

"Okay, this is weird and scary," Gabriella complained.

"Shut up," Troy snapped.

Gabriella closed her mouth when he said that and followed him deeper into the forest. She had no idea where he was taking her but she was kind of scared.

Finally Troy stopped and pushed through a few long branches and came out to this area that had some grass, dirt, and rocks for the land. It stared over the lake and a couple houses nearby. It had an old dock, but it seemed like it was being worked on. It had a single chair and a table right next to it by the water.

"What is this place?" Gabriella asked. The view was breathtaking and she was caught off guard that something like this was be deep into the forest.

"It's my spot," he admitted. "I found it a couple years ago when I was drunk and we were playing hide and seek at that house over there," he pointed to one of the houses across the lake. "I passed out here and the next morning I woke up and laid there for a while enjoying the view. Then I managed to find my way out of the place and ever since I've been coming here often before games and sometimes after games." Troy never told anyone this secret before and he couldn't believe he just told Gabriella.

"It's amazing," she told him and sat down in his chair.

"I've been working on it for the last year, the dock is almost breaking down but I'm getting it fixed," he told her. "I don't think anyone knows about this place because of all the mess it use to have."

Gabriella didn't reply back to his comment, she sat there and closed her eyes enjoying the sun. "Was this the place you were trying to show me last night?" she asked without opening her eyes.

Troy rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah," he said embarrassed. "But you were pissing me off last night and I didn't think it was time to show you."

"Time to show me?"

Troy nodded his head, "Every girl I liked before would always ask me where I go to think, and I'd start taking them there but then I thought to myself that they weren't worth seeing the place yet."

Gabriella smiled a bit and then it clicked in her head. "You like me?" she asked.

"What?"

"Don't play that game again, you like me?"

Troy sighed and sat down on the rock nearby, "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know," he said to her.

Gabriella grinned and she knew the real answer to that, "I knew it," she said.

Troy shook his head and changed the subject, "please don't tell anyone about this place or I'd really have to kill you," he told her.

"I won't, I promise."

"You better keep the promise forever until you die."

Gabriella nodded her head, "Forever I will keep your secret, and always."

* * *

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